I want to learn PHP

May I learn at home without buying expensive server software?

[albo]

I know PHP is server-side, and I am an idiot as far as installing same. I'd like to learn PHP without having to experiment without sending PHP trials to my website each time I have an exercise from the book. I suspect I can't afford (or don't know how to install) expensive server on my laptop. Is there an easier way to experiment at home? (Perhaps I ask too much...)

[DanA]

You can use EasyPHP, Wamp, Xamp, Zamp etc
all are free and can be installed quite easily on your laptop

[eggy ricardo]

Hiya

By all means you can practice on your laptop! A free and very popular server application is Apache (apache.org i believe), PHP is a free download and MySQL is a free database software which goes well with it. There are millions of sites helping you to set these up, and I'm sure a quick search on WW and a look in the libraries will help you.

Hope this helps!

Cheers
Richard

[HughMungus]

Albo, why NOT learn it using your host? All you have to do is upload the file each time you make a change. That's how I learnt it.

[caspita]

Starting in the hard way you will learn more and clean ;-)

What I recomend you is NOT using one of those packages out there which will install everything for you.. go for the independenden installation, it is easy and clean and you will start learning what is each piece for.

1. OS .. you can use anyone.. Win, Linux, etc. I use WinXP for my laptop.

2. WebServer.. as said before.. apache is the best and it is free.. download it from apache.org .. the creators.

3. Database .. MySQL, again the easies to learn and full PHP support.

Install in the same order.. and try some examples after each installation to be sure you are going safe.

Now, if you already have a WebHosting provider, then find out which apache, php, mysql versions they use, that will avoid you some issues in the future.. specially if you start learning PHP-5 and you host does not support it later.

4. Enjoy .. you soon will be on the next level ;-)

Good luck!

[BadGoat]

PHPDev, EasyPHP, PHPFriends... All three are bundled packages which include PHP, Apache, and MySQL, some have Perl and other add-ons.

I'd suggest Googling for one of the three and install it on your PC or laptop. All three are easy to install on Winbloze or Linux platform.

[jatar_k]

you could look in the PHP Library [webmasterworld.com]

there are a couple of threads about installing apache, php and mysql on your local machine.

[bluedalmatian]

I dont suppose your laptops running Mac OS X but if it is just turn on Personal Web Sharing (which starts Apache) and you can run the scripts on your local machine by putting them in the 'Sites' folder in your home directory.

The power of Unix with the ease of Windows ;)