Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One, Fourth Edition

Chapter . Introduction

Welcome to Sams Teach Yourself PHP, MySQL and Apache All in One, Fourth Edition! In the previous edition, the majority of the modifications were around the ability to use both PHP 5 and MySQL 5 as core technologies. In the two years since the previous edition was released, little has changed: PHP 5 and MySQL 5 are solid, stable, and power a great number of the Web-based applications we use every day. Many hosting providers now offer PHP 5 by default, without support for PHP 4 (which has entered the “end of life” phase), thus ensuring that anyone who wants to use PHP 5 and MySQL 5 can do so without installing these applications on their own (although the first four chapters of this book explain how to do just that). All the ...