PHP Tutorial

This tutorial is intended for beginners who wish to take a basic tutorial in PHP.

INTRODUCTION


PHP is a server-side scripting language. It is not like Javascript where you could write some code and check it locally at your browser. If you are not familiar with Javascript, it is probably a good idea to take a Javascript tutorial before you take up the PHP tutorial. By server side scripting we mean that the script will run at the server side and not the client side.

PHP is very widely used and is a very popular server side scripting language. It is absolutely free. You will get thousands of pages of free study material. There are known solutions to almost all kinds of PHP problem you can think of. PHP can be embedded directly into the HTML code.

PHP is a server side scripting language. So the script reside on the server. When a user asks for a PHP page, all the scripting and the processing is done at the server side and the server returns the HTML to the client. Client does not know the code at the server end.

As a result of this, you will need a server to run your first PHP programme. There are two alternatives available to you. You can pay a hosting fee of about $5 per month and upload your PHP files using ftp and start executing your php code. Alternatively you can install the Apache server with PHP support at your local machine and make your local machine act as a server.

Prerequisite



You must have some working knowledge of html. If not you may like to take a quick look at the html tutorial for beginners . Knowledge of javascript or any other programming language like C, C# helps but is not essential to follow this tutorial.

In the next page, we will cover, how to install Apache server with PHP support in your local machine to enable you run your first PHP code.