PHP Introduction

PHP is a server-side scripting language.
what you should already know.
Before you conitnue you should have a basic understanding of the following.

• HTML/XHTML
• Javascript

I will post later on these subjects.

What is PHP?

• PHP stands for Hypertext preprocessor.
• PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP.
• PHP script are executed on the server.
• PHP supports many databases (MYSQL, Informix, oracle, sybase solid , PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.).
• PHP is an Open source software.
• PHP is free to download and use .
  

What is a PHP file?

• PHP file can contain text, HTML tags and scripts.
• PHP file are returned to the browser as plain HTML.
• PHP file have a file extension of ".php" , ".php3" ,or ".PHTML".

What is MYSQL?

• MYSQL is database server.
• MYSQL is ideal for both small and large applications.
• MYSQL supports standard SQL.
• MYSQL complies on a number of platform.
• MYSQL is free to Download and use PHP+MYSQL.
• PHP combined with MYSQL are cross platform (you can develop in windows and serve on a Unix platform).

Why PHP?

• PHP runs on different platforms (windows, linux, unix, etc).
• PHP is compatible with almost all servers used today(apache, IIS etc)
• PHP is free to download from the official PHP resourse: http://www.php.net/