XAMPP

You've probably heard folks mention "Apache," "Perl," "PHP," and "MySQL." When I first heard the terms, this is what I thought:

Apache: Native American Indian Tribe with mad skills!

Perl: My neighbor's dog - Perl.

PHP: My old insurance company, Physicians Health Plan.

MySQL: Why is it your SQL? Does it always have to be about you? Why not call it RSQL...*grins*

Now you ask, what the heck do they do?

Apache is a web server. When you view a web page, good odds are that Apache is the program that sent it to your computer since it is the most widely used.

Perl is a powerful scripting language. Among other things, it creates dynamic content for web pages very easily.

PHP is similar. PHP is a web-mature language which has its primary purpose on the web. The difference is Perl is a rich, powerful language that can be used for almost anything. Perl is also a scripting language that can also be used on the web but this is not its only purpose. The syntax of these two languages is quite similar but not identical.

MySQL is a database. It can hold and organize grand amounts of data. Customers, product information, records, invoices, etc. and is commonly used for a database on an e-commerce web site.

Each of these utilities are very robust, well developed and sophisticated. Setting them up correctly one-by-one can be quite a chore itself. Heh, getting them to talk and work with eachother is even a greater task.

XAMPP is a free software package that ties them all together for you. With one single download and a simple installation, you are ready to create just about any web site you can fathom. Even if you just want to try it out or test your own HTML, PHP, or Perl CGI programming, XAMPP is a very easy, excellent and helpful tool. It's available for Windows, Linux, MAC & Solaris.

Enjoy and start developing!