How To Install PHP & What Are Web Servers - PHP 8 Tutorial

Summary

This video guide walks viewers through setting up a local PHP development environment using XAMPP, which bundles Apache, PHP, and MySQL. It explains the basics of web servers, how they process requests, and the importance of virtual hosts. The tutorial also touches on the limitations of all-in-one solutions like XAMPP for professional development and production environments, but recommends it for beginners and hobbyists. The video concludes with a demonstration of creating a simple 'Hello World' PHP file in the document root and emphasizes the need for a code editor for PHP development.

Takeaways

• 🛠️ Setting up a local development environment for PHP is essential before writing any code.
• 🌐 A web server can be hardware, software, or both, and is responsible for processing HTTP requests and serving web pages.
• 📚 Understanding how web servers work is important, especially when learning PHP, as they are the backbone of web applications.
• 📈 Web servers can host multiple websites using virtual hosts, sharing resources across different sites.
• 🔍 Browsers communicate with web servers by sending requests and receiving responses, which can be inspected using developer tools.
• 💡 Common errors like '404' occur when a requested file is not found, and can be observed in the browser's developer tools.
• 🔑 Two popular web servers are Apache and Nginx, each with their own advantages and suitable for different use cases.
• 👍 All-in-one solutions like XAMPP, MAMP, and WAMP simplify PHP setup by bundling necessary components and handling configurations.
• 🚫 XAMPP is not recommended for production environments due to security and flexibility limitations.
• 🛑 When setting up XAMPP, ensure no other services are using the default ports to avoid conflicts.
• 📁 The 'htdocs' directory in XAMPP is the document root where PHP project files should be placed for the web server to serve them.
• 💻 A code editor is necessary for writing PHP code efficiently; options like Sublime Text, VS Code, and PHPStorm are recommended.

Q & A

What is the purpose of setting up a local development environment for PHP?

The purpose of setting up a local development environment for PHP is to allow developers to write, test, and debug PHP code on their own computers before deploying it to a live server.

What is a web server and what role does it play in serving web pages?

A web server is either a hardware or software system, or both, that stores web server software, source code, and other files. It processes incoming requests using protocols like HTTP, which browsers use to view web pages, and serves the appropriate content in response.

How can a single web server host multiple websites?

A single web server can host multiple websites using a feature called virtual hosts. This allows the server to allocate and share resources across multiple websites, even on the same server.

What happens when a browser requests a file from a web server?

When a browser requests a file, the web server processes the request. If it can locate the file, it responds with the content. If not, it responds with a 404 status code indicating the file was not found.

How can we inspect the requests made by a browser to a web server?

We can inspect the requests made by a browser to a web server by opening developer tools in the browser, either by right-clicking and selecting 'Inspect Element' or by pressing F12.

What are the two most common web servers used for PHP development?

The two most common web servers used for PHP development are Apache and Nginx.

Why might a beginner choose an all-in-one solution like XAMPP for PHP development?

A beginner might choose an all-in-one solution like XAMPP because it bundles the web server, PHP, a database, and other tools, handling the configuration automatically, making it easy for beginners to start PHP development quickly.

What are some limitations of using an all-in-one solution like XAMPP for PHP development?

Limitations of using XAMPP include a lack of flexibility, such as not being able to have multiple PHP versions installed at once, difficulty managing multiple projects, and security issues that make it unsuitable for production environments.

What is the document root in the context of a web server like XAMPP?

The document root is the directory where the web server, such as XAMPP's Apache, looks for files to serve to clients. In XAMPP, this is typically the 'htdocs' directory.

What is the significance of the 'index.php' file in a web server's document root?

The 'index.php' file is significant because the web server will look for this file in the document root to serve as the default page for a directory. If found, the server will use it to display the website; if not, it may list the directory contents.

Why is it recommended to use a code editor when writing PHP code?

It is recommended to use a code editor when writing PHP code because they provide features like syntax highlighting, code completion, and error detection that improve the coding experience and productivity, unlike basic text editors like Notepad.

Outlines

00:00

🛠️ Setting Up a Local PHP Development Environment

This paragraph introduces the need for a local development environment to write PHP and discusses the concept of web servers, which are essential for running PHP. It explains that a web server can be hardware, software, or both, and is responsible for processing incoming HTTP requests and serving web pages. The paragraph also covers virtual hosts, which allow a single server to host multiple websites by sharing resources. A diagram is mentioned to illustrate the communication process between the client and server, including the common 404 status code response when a file is not found. The viewer is encouraged to explore this process using developer tools in their browser. The paragraph concludes by mentioning the two most common web servers, Apache and Nginx, and introduces the concept of all-in-one solutions like XAMPP, MAMP, and WAMP, which simplify the setup process for beginners. It also touches on the limitations of such solutions, such as the inability to run multiple PHP versions simultaneously and the challenges of managing multiple projects and upgrading PHP versions.

05:00

📝 Exploring XAMPP and PHP Project Structure

The second paragraph delves into the practical aspects of setting up a PHP environment using XAMPP, which bundles a web server, PHP, and a database, making it beginner-friendly. It addresses common issues like port conflicts when other services are running on the same port and suggests solutions like changing the port or stopping the conflicting service. The paragraph guides the viewer through accessing XAMPP's control panel, starting and stopping services, and editing configurations. It introduces the 'htdocs' directory as the document root where source code and project files should be placed. The viewer is shown how to create a simple 'index.php' file to display 'Hello World' on the local server. The paragraph also discusses the importance of choosing a code editor for PHP development, recommending Sublime Text, VS Code, and PHPStorm, and concludes by summarizing the steps taken to get PHP running locally with XAMPP and looking forward to writing the first PHP code in the next video.

Keywords

💡PHP

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed for web development. It is used to create dynamic web pages and manage server-side logic. In the video, PHP is the main focus as the script discusses setting up a local development environment to write and test PHP code. The video aims to help beginners understand how to get started with PHP development.

💡Local Development Environment

A local development environment is a setup on a developer's computer that mimics the production environment where the final application will run. It allows developers to write, test, and debug code without affecting the live system. The video provides a step-by-step guide on setting up such an environment for PHP using XAMPP.

💡Web Server

A web server is a system that processes requests via HTTP, the protocol used for fetching resources from the web. It can be hardware, software, or both. In the context of the video, the web server is essential for running PHP scripts, as PHP is primarily executed on a server to generate dynamic web content. Apache and Nginx are mentioned as common web servers.

💡HTTP Protocol

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which is the foundational protocol for data communication on the World Wide Web. It defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should perform in response to various commands. The script explains that a web server processes incoming requests using the HTTP protocol.

💡Virtual Hosts

Virtual hosts allow a single web server to host multiple websites by sharing the same resources. Each virtual host can have its own domain name and website content. The script mentions virtual hosts as a way for a web server to allocate and share resources across multiple websites.

💡404 Status Code

A 404 status code is an HTTP response indicating that the requested resource could not be found on the server. In the video, it is used as an example of how a web server responds when it cannot locate the requested file.

💡Developer Tools

Developer Tools are a set of utilities available in most web browsers that allow developers to inspect and debug web pages. The script suggests using developer tools to observe the requests and responses between the browser and the server, which is an essential part of understanding web development.

💡Apache

Apache is a widely used open-source web server software. It is known for its reliability and flexibility. The video script mentions Apache as one of the two most common web servers, and the one that will be used for the PHP local development environment setup.

💡XAMPP

XAMPP is a free and open-source cross-platform web server solution stack that includes Apache, MySQL, PHP, and Perl. It is designed to be easy to install and use, making it a popular choice for beginners setting up a local development environment for PHP. The video provides instructions on installing XAMPP.

💡Document Root

The document root is the directory on the web server that serves as the filesystem root directory from where the web server serves files. In the context of the video, the script explains that the 'htdocs' directory in the XAMPP installation is the document root, where the user's PHP files and project files should be placed.

💡Code Editor

A code editor is a type of text editor specifically designed for editing source code with various features such as syntax highlighting, line numbers, and auto-indentation. The video script suggests trying different code editors like Sublime Text, VS Code, and PHPStorm to find one that is comfortable for PHP development.

Highlights

Setting up a local development environment is the first step before writing any PHP code.

Understanding what a web server is and how it works is crucial since PHP runs on web servers.

A web server can refer to hardware, software, or both, and it processes incoming requests using protocols like HTTP.

Web servers can host multiple websites on the same server using virtual hosts, which share resources across sites.

The browser requests files from the server, and the server responds with the necessary HTML or an error code like 404 if the file is not found.

Common web servers include Apache and Nginx, each with its own pros and cons.

XAMPP, MAMP, and WAMP are all-in-one solutions that bundle a web server, PHP, database, and other tools, making it easy for beginners to set up a PHP environment.

Docker is a more flexible alternative for setting up a PHP environment, though it is not covered in this video.

XAMPP's simplicity comes with trade-offs like limited flexibility in having multiple PHP versions installed simultaneously.

XAMPP is not suited for production due to security concerns, leading to potential differences between local and production environments.

XAMPP is suitable for hobby projects and learning PHP quickly without complex setup.

Installing XAMPP involves downloading it, selecting necessary services, and addressing common errors related to port conflicts.

The XAMPP control panel allows managing services, viewing logs, and configuring settings.

In XAMPP, the 'htdocs' directory is the document root where source code and project files are stored.

When accessing 'localhost,' the server looks for an 'index.php' file in the document root to serve the website.

A code editor is essential for writing PHP code, with recommendations including Sublime Text, Atom, VS Code, and PHPStorm.

Transcripts

before we can write any php we need to

have the local development environment

set up for it let's do that in this

video and also talk a little bit about

web servers because php mostly runs on

the web server and it's a good idea to

know what a web server is and how it

works

[Music]

when talking about a web server you

could either refer to a hardware or

software or both hardware and software

together a web server on the hardware is

just a computer that stores the web

server software source code and some

other stuff a web server can process

incoming requests using different

protocols typically it's the http

protocol which is the protocol used by

the browser to view the web pages a web

server can host either a single or

multiple websites on the same server

using the same resource this is done by

something called virtual hosts where the

single web server is able to allocate

and share resources across multiple

websites here is a simple diagram of how

the communication between the client and

the server happens when you visit the

website the browser will request for the

file from the server the web server will

process this request and respond

accordingly if it cannot locate the file

then it will respond with the 404 status

code we can actually see this in action

by visiting any website and opening

developer tools to inspect the requests

you can either open dev tools by either

right clicking on your mouse and then

clicking on the inspect element or by

hitting f12 on the keyboard let's

refresh the page and see what happens as

you can see the first request is what

gets sent to the server and then it

responds back with the html that then

gets rendered on the screen don't worry

about the other requests for now also

don't worry if this is new to you or if

it doesn't really make sense you don't

really need to worry about this too much

at this stage of your learning i just

wanted to explain how it works and what

web servers are so things make more

sense when you're actually installing

the necessary software to run the php

the two most common web servers are

apache and nginx they both have their

pros and cons i'm not going to get into

much detail on which one is better or

which one to choose because i don't want

to overwhelm you with too much

information we'll be using the apache

for now because it comes with the

software bundled in that we're going to

be installing in this video there are

many different ways you could have php

installed in your local environment you

might even have it installed on your os

if you have php manually installed you

will need a local server either apache

or nginx you would need to install that

manually yourself later if you decided

that you also needed a database you

would need to install that as well this

does not sound beginner friendly you

probably just want to get it installed

as simply and as fast as possible this

is why all in one solutions like xampp

mamp and wamp exist they bundle in the

web server php database and some other

useful tools and handle the

configuration for you which makes it

very easy for beginners to get started

with php some other better alternatives

to xampp to get a php environment set up

are virtual machines or containers i

personally don't use xampp i use docker

and i will have a separate video about

getting php environment setup using

docker but don't worry about it right

now we are not going to be installing

docker right now we are going to be

installing xampp this simplicity though

comes with a trade-off and that is

flexibility one of those trade-offs is

you cannot have multiple php versions

installed at the same time out of the

box there are ways you could achieve

this with xampp but it's not simple and

requires some work you may also need a

different version of the database per

project which goes back to the point one

it also becomes harder to manage and

maintain multiple projects especially

when you're trying to upgrade your

current php version it is not suited for

production due to its security so i

would not be advising using x-amp for

production and because you would not use

x-amp in production you would always

have some sort of disconnect differences

between your local setup and your

production these differences could be

minor if you know what you're doing or

you could be major like a difference in

php versions or the packages it's

installed for example which could yield

to issues like it works on my local

machine but it does not work in

production there is absolutely nothing

wrong with using xampp for hobby

projects or just playing around with php

and getting it running as fast as

possible it is entirely up to you how

you want to get your local environment

set up or what tools you want to use if

you are a beginner then i would suggest

to stick with xampp for now and then

look for alternatives once you're

comfortable so just go to the xampp

website download it and follow the

instructions to install on one of the

steps it will ask you what services you

want to include in the bundle you could

unselect the ones that you do not

care or you don't want to use for this

course though we're only going to be

using database and php so we don't need

all other services so we could disable

them for now

let's start the control panel and

briefly review it right away as you can

see i'm getting an error and this is

actually a pretty common error for cases

where you may already be running some

other servers on the same port for

example in my case i have a database

running in a docker container on the

same port 3306 and because this port is

already taken xampp can start the

database service this can easily be

fixed by turning off the service that's

currently running on port 3306 or we

could use a different port to run it

same thing can happen for apache for

example so if you see such errors just

check what services are using that port

and either disable or change them we

won't be needing the database right now

so we can ignore this error for now and

fix it once we actually start using the

database you could also change the

xampp's configuration you could change

the default text editor or you could

enable some of the services to start

automatically whenever the xm starts you

could also stop and start the necessary

services from the control panel view and

edit configuration files and check logs

don't worry about the config files for

now we'll touch on that topic in a

separate video let's head over to the

browser and type http localhost and hit

enter it opens the welcome dashboard

page for xampp which means that the web

server is working as expected you might

be wondering where you would put your

source code and that depends mainly on

how the web server is configured so

let's open xampp control panel and click

on the explorer button here this opens

the directory where xampp is installed

and here we see that that's where apache

phpmysql and other services are

installed but you don't have to worry

about these directories for now the only

thing that you need to know is that

htdocs right here this is your document

root which means that this is where your

source code and project files will go to

if we open that we see that this is the

source code for this dashboard page that

we see on the localhost so we could go

ahead and delete this because we're

going to be adding our own files

now what happens when you go to

localhost is that it will try to locate

index.php within your document root if

it finds the index.php then it will

serve the website using that index.php

if it cannot find the index.php then it

will just list the files and directories

within the document root so for example

right now we don't have any content if i

were to create just some file here

and go to localhost

we see that it just lists the document

tree so what we can do is we can create

directories here so we can call this

program with geo

and here we could create

an index dot php and we could just say

hello world for now now a quick note

here we're not writing a php code yet

this is just a simple uh text so if we

go to the local host now we see the

program with geo directory if we click

that we see hello world as you noticed

we have not written a php code yet we'll

do that on the next video where we'll go

over the basic syntax before we can do

that though we need a code editor

because even though you could write php

in notepad it's not so pleasant to work

with there are a lot of options when it

comes to code editors try some of them

and pick the one that you like and feel

more comfortable with sublime text adam

vs code and phpstorm are the ones that i

recommend though it's up to you what you

use this is it for this video now you

know how to get up and running with php

on your local environment using xampp

but in addition to that you also know

what web server is and how it works

thank you for watching hope you liked

this video please hit like and subscribe

and i will see you on the next one where

we'll go over the syntax and write our

first php code