Exploring PHP Basics

PHP is a server-side scripting language for creating dynamic Web pages.

When a visitor opens a page built in PHP, the server processes the PHP com-
mands and then sends the results to the visitor’s browser. MySQL is an open
source relational database management system (RDBMS) that uses
Structured Query Language (SQL), the most popular language for adding,
accessing, and processing data in a database. If that all sounds like Greek to
you, just think of MySQL as a big file cabinet where all the content on your
blog is stored.

Every time a visitor goes to your blog to read your content, he makes

a request that’s sent to a host server. The PHP programming language

receives that request, makes a call to the MySQL database, obtains the

requested information from the database, and then presents the requested information to your visitor through his Web browser.