Specifications

PHP AND MYSQL WEB DEVELOPMENT

To demonstrate this, the examples in this book have been written and tested on two popular setups:

• Linux using the Apache Web server

• Microsoft Windows 2000 using Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)

Whatever hardware, operating system, and Web server you choose, we believe you should seri-

ously consider using PHP and MySQL.

Some of PHP’s Strengths

Some of PHP’s main competitors are Perl, Microsoft Active Server Pages (ASP), Java Server

Pages (JSP), and Allaire Cold Fusion.

In comparison to these products, PHP has many strengths including the following:

• High performance

• Interfaces to many different database systems

• Built-in libraries for many common Web tasks

• Low cost

• Ease of learning and use

• Portability

• Availability of source code

A more detailed discussion of these strengths follows.

Performance

PHP is very efficient. Using a single inexpensive server, you can serve millions of hits per day.

Benchmarks published by Zend Technologies (http://www.zend.com) show PHP outperforming

its competition.

Database Integration

PHP has native connections available to many database systems. In addition to MySQL, you can

directly connect to PostgreSQL, mSQL, Oracle, dbm, filePro, Hyperwave, Informix, InterBase,

and Sybase databases, among others.

Using the Open Database Connectivity Standard (ODBC), you can connect to any database that

provides an ODBC driver. This includes Microsoft products, and many others.

Built-in Libraries

Because PHP was designed for use on the Web, it has many built-in functions for performing

many useful Web-related tasks. You can generate GIF images on-the-fly, connect to other net-

work services, send email, work with cookies, and generate PDF documents, all with just a few

lines of code.

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