Noob needs help

shanevdw

Hi I'm new to PHP.
I would like to find out information on how to get started and what I need to set up for a testing environment at home and how you go about making everything live in the net.
Here are some questions:
What version of PHP do I install on my machine at home and where do I get it?
Do I need Apache installed on my machine?
If I install Apache will it conflict with IIS?
Where can I download Apache?
What database can I use? Can I use SQL Server 2000 and Express?
Can I only use MySQL?

As I said I am new to this and I haven't really got a clue on how to go about starting up. If someone could give me a crash course in this or give me a link where I could read up more about this topic would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rodney_H_

TO get started, I suggest you download WAMPSERVER: http://www.wampserver.com/en/index.php

It has the latest versions of PHP and APACHE as well as a few other nifty things all packaged together for you like: MySQL server, PhpMyAdmin, SQLiteManager, and more....

It won't conflict with IIS as far as I remember.

With PHP there are several options for databases, but the most widely used is MySQL and PHP offers full support for it... but that is not your only option.

There are other options to WAMPSERVER:

I think Houdini here likes to recommend http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-windows.html as an alternative to Wamp, and there is also EasyPhp: http://easyphp.org/?lang=en

Hope that helps getting you started testing your scripts locally.

shanevdw

Thanks so much I will check it out.