Lesson 2: Setting Up the Environment

2.1 Installing XAMPP/WAMP/MAMP

• What is XAMPP/WAMP/MAMP?
  • XAMPP: Cross-platform Apache, MySQL, PHP, Perl.
  • WAMP: Windows-based server stack.
  • MAMP: macOS-based stack.
• Steps to Install XAMPP:
  1. Download from the official XAMPP website.
  2. Run the installer and follow the prompts.
  3. Start the Apache and MySQL services from the XAMPP Control Panel.
• Verifying Installation:
  • Open a browser and visit http://localhost.
  • You should see the XAMPP dashboard.

2.2 Setting Up VS Code/PhpStorm for PHP

• Visual Studio Code (VS Code):
  1. Download and install from the VS Code website.
  2. Install the PHP Intelephense extension for code suggestions.
  3. Set up the PHP executable path in VS Code settings.
• PhpStorm:
  1. Download and install PhpStorm from JetBrains.
  2. Configure your project by pointing to the PHP interpreter and web server.

2.3 Running Your First PHP Script

1. Create a file named index.php in the XAMPP htdocs directory (or the equivalent for WAMP/MAMP).
2. Add the following code:
echo "Hello, World!";
3. Open a browser and navigate to http://localhost/index.php.
4. You should see Hello, World! displayed on the screen.