1. PHP Scripting Language

2. Introduction “PHP” is an acronym for “PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor.” It is an interpreted, server-side scripting language. Originally designed for web development. Syntax is similar to C, Perl. Similar languages are Perl, ASP.NET, Ruby, JSP (JavaServer Pages)

3. PHP Features Performance ▫Relatively fast for an interpreted language. Database Connectivity ▫Support for MySQL, Oracle, dbm, DB2, PostgreSQL ▫Can connect to any database which provides an ODBC driver (Open Database Connectivity Standard) – e.g. MS Access.

4. PHP Features Existing Libraries ▫PHP was originally designed for web use – lots of functions for common web-development tasks (e.g. Sending email, XML parsing, etc.) Portability ▫Supported on Windows, Mac OS X, other Unix- like systems (e.g. Linux).

5. PHP Features Object-Oriented Programming ▫Similar syntax and features as C++ and Java – inheritance, attribute visibility (private, protected), abstract classes/methods, constructors and destructors, etc. Popularity ▫As a result, lots of documentation, books, and web tutorials.

6. PHP Usage Server-Side Scripting Language ▫Must have a web server and the PHP interpreter installed. ▫PHP interpreter processes pages before they are served to clients.

7. Windows Installation Example Apache HTTP Server Version 2.2 ▫Open-source ▫Windows, OS X, Unix/Unix-Like (Linux) ▫Documentation: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/ http://httpd.apache.org/docs/current/ PHP Version 5.3.9 ▫Latest stable version ▫Installation instructions: http://php.net/manual/en/install.php http://php.net/manual/en/install.php

8. Windows Installation Example Basic Steps: ▫Download Apache Win32 Binary from http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi#apache22 http://httpd.apache.org/download.cgi#apache22 ▫Install Apache ▫Download PHP binary installer from http://www.php.net/downloads.php http://www.php.net/downloads.php ▫Install PHP, configured to use the Apache web server ▫Optionally modify Apache configuration to serve PHP files as directory indices.

9. Resources Apache ▫Website: http://httpd.apache.org/http://httpd.apache.org/ ▫Documentation: http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ PHP ▫Website: http://www.php.net/http://www.php.net/ ▫Documentation and language reference: http://www.php.net/docs.php http://www.php.net/docs.php

10. Resources Xampp ▫Combines an Apache web server, PHP, and MySQL into one simple installation service. ▫Very little configuration required by the user to get an initial system up and running. ▫http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.htmlhttp://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html