Try to learn PHP

[Sunny]

In order to learn PHP I think the first thing I have to do should be installing PHP server in my PC. I have checked the PHP.net and it seems I have to download Apache,PHP and maybe MySQL.My questions are :There are many verions of PHP, which one is best for beginners like myself ? 3 or 4 or 5 ? I have Window XP professional. Which version of the download is easiler to install, the complete source code or Window Bineries ? I don't know a lot of the terms mentioned in the descriptions and therefore get very confused on how I should install it. I would be grateful if anyone can give me the steps I should follow in order to install the PHP server. Thank you very much.

[DarkElf]

You need a server package installed on your pc, apache is best and is free from a lot of sources. Then you need to install php, I would just go for the most recent version (i.e. 5). You don't need MySQL unless you are actually going to use the MySQL database for your page (php/MySQL powered websites are a common combination, but that's somewhat more advanced than you will be doing when just starting out to learn php)Installing apache and php is pretty complicated though, you would be better off signing up to a host and testing your php out on their server so you can avoid installing it on your pc yourself. There is a sticky on the php forum about free hosts that support php.

[Armed Rebel]

http://www.easyphp.org isn a really good learning tool if you don't want to go through all of that. It even has mySQL support.

[Sunny]

Thanks guys, I have since download easyPHP and will be having fun with it. Thanks again.