XAMPP is the most popular PHP development environment
XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution
containing MariaDB, PHP, and Perl. The XAMPP open source package has
been set up to be incredibly easy to install and to use.
For open-source Web servers, the most popular stack of software
is the Apache server, MySQL database, and PHP scripting language.
Drawing from their initials, implementations of this on Windows and
Linux are known respectively as WAMP and LAMP. XAMPP extends these
acronyms, and provides a one-click installation of this stack on
Linux, Windows, Mac, or Solaris, along with a handful of other
helpful applications and services.
XAMPP is designed to be a development server in a box. There are
many other WAMP packages, but XAMPP for Windows is among the most
complete and easiest to install. This does however come at the
expense of security, so XAMPP is not meant to be used as a
production server. The authors at Apache Friends specifically warn
against doing so, although if you insist on making your server Web
accessible they do provide a nice guide and utility for partially locking it down.
In addition to Apache, MySQL, and PHP, XAMPP includes the
phpMyAdmin database administration tool, FileZilla FTP server,
Mercury mail server, Perl programming language, and JSP server
Tomcat. You can start, stop, and configure these services in the
XAMPP control panel which launches from the tray. XAMPP also
installs an admin site as the home page of the server. From here
you can check the server status and security, launch tools such as
phpMyAdmin and Webalizer analytics, and view PHP demos which are
particularly useful for beginning developers.
Installing XAMPP required no configuration and completed
successfully in less than ten minutes for me. Who says setting up a
Web server has to be complicated? Apache Friends maintains a FAQ in case of problems, but most won't need
it. XAMPP is perfect for anyone looking to get a full-fledged
development server running quickly and effortlessly.
