web development with php

PHP, MySQL, Apache or Windows upgrade?

[gstick]

My Windows XP home edition does not include IIS. I want to use PHP.
My host server supports PHP so no problem there. But I can't test locally.
I learn that I can download PHP software free. Presumably then I could
test locally?

However, the PHP site offers me two versions of the 5.1.2 complete source
code and 3 choices under Windows binaries. I can find no explanations or
distinctions to help me choose?

The W3 tutorial on PHP seems to be suggesting that I also download
MySQL and Apache HTTP server.

I believe I will need SQL as soon as I learn how to use it. Apache seems to
be a straightforward choice between paying Microsoft $200 to upgrade my
software or acquiring Apache at no cost.

Any advice or suggestions will be welcome.

[mack]

Hi gstick,

You're very wise to go with Apache as your server environment. If you want to have the popular hosting stuff installed on your local machine you may want to have a look at Xamp
[apachefriends.org...]

It comes as one installer and contains the following...
Apache, MySQL, PHP + PEAR, Perl, mod_php, mod_perl, mod_ssl, OpenSSL, phpMyAdmin, Webalizer, Mercury Mail Transport System for Win32 and NetWare Systems v3.32, JpGraph, FileZilla FTP Server, mcrypt, eAccelerator, SQLite, and WEB-DAV + mod_auth_mysql.

The great thing about the installer is it does everything in one operation without the need to download install and configure everything on it's own.

Mack.

[jatar_k]

there are also some installation walk throughs in the PHP Library [webmasterworld.com]

[bcolflesh]

XAMPP is good - I don't normally need everything it has, so I go with WAMP:

[en.wampserver.com...]

There are a ton of pre-rolled Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP binaries out there to try...

[vacorama]

php 5 is great but unforunately most hosting companies haven't made the switch yet. The major differences are its support for Object Oriented design as well as xml functions. Just about everything that works with php 4 should work with php 5, but if your testing locally on php 5 and uploading to your server with php 4 there are somethings you should look out for, but most of the things have to do with xml. Just make sure to check any functions you use for their compatibility with both version before you commit to a particular way of doing anything. you can always have both.. i have php 4 running as apache modual so it's the default php, but i also installed php 5 as well on the server so i invoke when needed (for xml functions primarily)..