PHP is a server scripting language, and a powerful tool for making dynamic and interactive Web pages.

PHP is a widely-used, free, and efficient alternative to competitors such as Microsoft's ASP.

PHP 7 is the latest stable release.

What You Should Already Know

Before you continue you should have a basic understanding of the following:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

What is PHP?

• PHP is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor"
• PHP is a widely-used, open source scripting language
• PHP scripts are executed on the server
• PHP is free to download and use

What Do I Need to Install?

To start using PHP, you can:

• Find a web host with PHP and MySQL support
• Install a web server on your own PC, and then install PHP and MySQL

Set Up PHP on Your Own PC

If your server does not support PHP, you must:

• Instal a Web Server
• Instal PHP
• Instal a Database, such as MySQL

The official PHP website (PHP.net ) has installation instructions for PHP: http://php.net/manual/en/install.php

Comments in PHP

A comment in PHP code is a line that is not executed as a part of the program. Its only purpose is to be read by someone who is looking at the code.

Comments can be used to:

• Let others understand your code
• Remind yourself of what you did - Most programmers have experienced coming back to their own work a year or two later and having to re-figure out what they did.

Variables are "containers" for storing information.

In PHP, a variable starts with the $ sign, followed by the name of the variable

Example: $variable = "Hello World"