Introduction to PHP

What is PHP?
PHP stands for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor
PHP is a server-side scripting language, like ASP
PHP scripts are executed on the server
PHP supports many databases (MySQL, Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, PostgreSQL, Generic ODBC, etc.)
PHP is an open source software (OSS)
PHP is free to download and use .

What is a PHP File?
PHP files may contain text, HTML tags and scripts
PHP files are returned to the browser as plain HTML
PHP files have a file extension of ".php", ".php3", or ".phtml"

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 easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

Where to Start?
Install an Apache server on a Windows or Linux machine
Install PHP on a Windows or Linux machine
Install MySQL on a Windows or Linux machine

Also you can use Macromedia Dreamweaver for code writing.