PHP & MySQL overview

The PHP scripting language acronyme means HyperText PreProcessor. It's code is executed on the server.
PHP let us connect and manipulate databases and generate dynamic data in the web page. But before studying this language we should first have a basic understand of the following languages:

HTML

CSS

JavaScript

What is PHP?

PHP is an open source scripting language, its code is executed on the server and the result reurned as a plain HTML to the web browser. PHP files have extension  ".php"

What Can PHP Do?

PHP can generate a dynamic page content, also can read , write, delete, open, and close files on the server

It can also collect form data, send and receive cookies.. fetch, add, delete, and modify data in database

It is used to control user-access.

You can write HTML inside a PHP file.

With PHP, you can output images, PDF files, and all Flash movies. You can also output texts, such as XHTML and XML.

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Why PHP?

You can use PHP for free and it runs on various operating systems  (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.) 

It is compatible with the Appache server and many other servers like IIS

It supports a wide range of databases, like MySQL

• PHP is easy to learn and runs efficiently on the server side

With PHP, you can connect to and deal with mutiple databases.

MySQL is the most popular database used with PHP.

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What is MySQL?

MySQL is a database used on the web. Developed, distributed, and supported by Oracle Corporation, it runs on the server

It's ideal for bith small and large applications as well as is very fast, reliable, and easy to use.

It uses standard SQL, and it compiles on many platforms

It's free to download and easy to learn.

Databases are useful for storing information categorically.
A company may have a database with following tables:

• Employees
• Products
• Customers
• Orders

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PHP + MySQL Database System

• PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop on many operating systems)

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Database Queries

A query is a request.

We can query a database for specific or random information and have a record data returned.