Five Steps to Getting Started Server-Side with PHP

Mar 7, 2008

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Do you think server-side technology such as PHP is so complex that only IT administration professionals can understand it? Not so. Using the right tools, anybody with just one machine can learn all about PHP. To find out how, read on...

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Moving over to server-side

The vast majority of programmers are very much accustomed to client-side development. Nowadays, this is very often not enough! The range and richness of servers are growing all the time, so that just about any device to which code is deployed can be seen as a "server." This loose definition of a server includes handheld computers and mobile phones. The same is true of capable devices such as set-top boxes. Java technology to run on these elements is growing increasingly sophisticated. In short, server-side is a good place to be.

PHP is an interesting scripting language because it allows you to more closely control your website pages. When I first looked at PHP, I was struck by how hard it is to install tools and get up and running with the language. So a good portion of this article is devoted to helping you avoid the pain of installation.

To this end, I opted for the well-named EasyPHP tool. Using EasyPHP, you can easily learn this technology and get started moving up the server-side value chain. (See my eBook Moving Up the Value Chain, Digital Short Cut," and article Moving C++ and Java Programmers Up the Value Chain.)

So, let's get the basics out of the way and then we'll look at some code.

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