PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a server-side scripting language used for developing dynamic web applications. It allows you to embed PHP code directly into HTML pages, enabling dynamic content generation and interaction with databases. PHP scripts are executed by the web server (e.g., Apache HTTP server) before being sent to the client’s browser.
To develop PHP applications, you need to install and configure at least three basic components: Apache, MySQL (or MariaDB), and PHP. This is the minimum for developing PHP applications. Installing and configuring Apache, MySQL (or MariaDB), and PHP provides the essential infrastructure needed to build dynamic and interactive web applications using PHP.
Using a relational database management system (RDBMS) like MySQL or MariaDB is common in PHP development for storing and managing data, but it’s not strictly required for all PHP applications.
You can start developing PHP applications with just Apache and PHP installed. This minimalist setup allows you to create basic PHP scripts and web pages, run them on the Apache web server, and view the output in a web browser.
While you won’t have the capability to store data in a database without MySQL or MariaDB, you can still develop a wide range of applications such as simple websites, APIs, and web services using just Apache and PHP.
Once your application requirements grow to include data storage and retrieval, you can install and configure an RDBMS like MySQL or MariaDB to complement your Apache and PHP setup, expanding the capabilities of your PHP applications as needed.
Installation and configuration
The following article will take you through the processes of installing the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MariaDB, PHP). It is based on individual articles detailing the installation processes for Apache, MariaDB, and PHP on Linux.
