Seeking input to Start with PHP

[Devendra1]

Hi there I have programming background, but I am very much new to the world of PHP.
Can anybody tell Which software(s) I should use to write and compile code in PHP. Give me some basic knowledge to start practically with PHP.

[Menster]

Software to run php: XAMPP (if you are on a Windows based pc)
Sofware to write php: Netbeans PHP is free (as far as I can tell) but phpEd from nuSphere is way awesomer if you're willing to buy a license.
Best Place to Learn PHP: The basics at http://www.w3schools.com
The true knowledge at http://www.php.net

Hope this helps

[Devendra1]

1 Can u please tell me which version I should use XAMPP. ?
2 What I know about PHP is We embedd PHP code with html to create dynammic pages? and Html page do not require compilation.
Does a page embedded with PHP resides on Server?

3 I have worked with JBoss, and Tomcat using Java and we use Jsp and html pages, if i replace my html page to make it dynamic using PHP then do they require compilation or they get automatically compiled ?
4 If they require compilation, then how to compile ?

[jbennet]

They are not compiled in the traditional sense, no. The scripts are exectuted on the server whenever required. All you upload to the server is the .php files, not binaries.

[Devendra1]

Does it mean I just need to create a web page using html and PHP and it will get automatically executed and do not requires compilation like other codes java/C# ?

[Menster]

Exactly, php is an interpreted language unlike the others which you mention. i.e. The pages are parsed by apache when they are requested in order to generate the required content.

[Devendra1]

Does Tomcat 4.5 web server support PHP ?

MySql and Tomcat (by Apache ) have alreary installed on my pc.
Then is it necessary to install XAMPP or I can use my installed softwares to work with PHP ?

[Menster]

I have never worked with Tomcat, so I'm not sure (Isn't it a JSP server). Their home page should be able to guide you on this.

[Bojero]

Quite a few webservers have support for PHP, but you will never find better support than using Apache.

[jbennet]

but you will never find better support than using Apache

It runs pretty well on IIS