Part One: An Introduction to PHP

What is PHP?

PHP, stands for "Hypertext Preprocessor".

Definition from php.net :
"PHP is an HTML-embedded scripting language. Much of its syntax is borrowed from C, Java and Perl with a couple of unique PHP-specific features thrown in. The goal of the language is to allow web developers to write dynamically generated pages quickly."

Why PHP5 ???

1. Robust Support for Object-Oriented Programming

It offers:

Constructors
Destructors
Public, protected, and private properties and methods
Interfaces
Abstract classes
Class type hints
Static properties and methods
Final properties and methods
A whole suite of magical methods

2. A Completely Rewritten MySQL Extension
It offers:

Prepared statements
Bound input and output parameters
SSL connections
Multi-query functions

3. A Suite of Interoperable XML Tools
The new XML extensions:

Work together as a unified whole.
Are standardized on a single XML library: libxml2.
Fully comply with W3 specifications.
Efficiently process data.
Provide you with the right XML tool for your job.

4. An Embedded Database with SQLite
While MySQL is greater than ever, it's actually "too much database" for some jobs. SQLite is an embedded database library that lets you store and query data using an SQL interface without the overhead of installing and running a separate database application.
Despite the name, SQLite is nowhere close to a "lite" database. It supports:

Transactions
Subqueries
Triggers
And many other advanced database features

5. Cleaner Error Handling with Exceptions

PHP 5 offers a completely different model of error checking than what's available in PHP 4. It's called exception handling. With exceptions, you're freed from the necessity of checking the return value of every function. Instead, you can separate programming logic from error handling and place them in adjoining blocks of code.

6. A First-Class SOAP Implementation

SOAP is a key component of the fast-growing web services field. This extension lets developers create SOAP clients with or without a Web Services Description Language (WSDL) file, and also implement SOAP servers in PHP.

7. Iterators

Iterators are a completely new PHP 5 feature. They allow you to use a for-each loop to cycle through different types of data: directory listings, database results, and even XML documents. SPL -- Standard PHP Library -- is a collection of iterators that provide this functionality and also filter, limit, cache, and otherwise modify iterator results.

Iterators are an incredibly handy way to abstract away messy details from your code.

Installation

Download Wamp(Windows, Apache, Mysql, PHP) server, a complete package for PHP and Mysql on windows platform from following link.

Download WAMP from here

double click on the .exe file and install it in ur preferred location. If not sure, let it be with defaults.

after completion, start wamp server.

you will see a small icon in your taskbar.

Congratulations!!!!
You are done with installation :)