
INTRODUCTION
Cost
PHP is free. You can download the latest version at any time from http://www.php.net for
no charge.
Learning PHP
The syntax of PHP is based on other programming languages, primarily C and Perl. If you already
know C or Perl, or a C-like language such as C++ or Java, you will be productive using PHP
almost immediately.
Portability
PHP is available for many different operating systems. You can write PHP code on the free Unix-
like operating systems such as Linux and FreeBSD, commercial Unix versions such as Solaris and
IRIX, or on different versions of Microsoft Windows.
Your code will usually work without modification on a different system running PHP.
Source Code
You have access to the source code of PHP. Unlike commercial, closed-source products, if there is
something you want modified or added to the language, you are free to do this.
You do not need to wait for the manufacturer to release patches. You don’t need to worry about the
manufacturer going out of business or deciding to stop supporting a product.
Some of MySQL’s Strengths
Some of MySQL’s main competitors are PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle.
MySQL has many strengths, including high performance, low cost, easy to configure and learn,
portable, and the source code is available.
A more detailed discussion of these strengths follows.
Performance
MySQL is undeniably fast. You can see the developers’ benchmark page at
http://web.mysql.com/benchmark.html. Many of these benchmarks show MySQL to be orders
of magnitude faster than the competition.
Low Cost
MySQL is available at no cost, under an Open Source license, or at low cost under a commercial
license if required for your application.
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