XAMPP needed for PHP/MySQL on my Netbook

First thing our instructor discussed were the requirements needed for our PHP/MySQL Course. Unlike html that you can create in practically any PC with just a notepad and a web browser, PHP needs a little bit more.

PHP is a server-side scripting language. So, in order for any of our PHP scripts to
function, we need to use a web-server or create our PC/workstation to be like web-servers.

To be a web-server, my PC needs to have a server operating system like Apache; a database like MySQL and a front-end tool to manage the MySQL database. These softwares can be download separately. However, configuring them all is a too technical for beginners.

As per our instructors advice, it is better way to just install an all-in-one package for PHP/MySQL applications.

XAMPP is a free and open source cross-platform web server package, consisting mainly of the Apache HTTP Server, MySQL database, and interpreters for scripts written in the PHP and Perl programming languages.

Afte the class, I immediately searched for XAMPPED, download it and installed it on my netbook. Everything went pretty well. When I checked on the status of my xampp, the SMTP and FTP services are deactivated.

I will have to asked my intstructor about this on the next session.