Apache, PHP, and MySQL are the fundamental components required for web development. However, installing them individually on your system can be time-consuming, and configuring them can be challenging, especially for beginners. To overcome these difficulties, you can utilize applications like VertrigoServ.

PHP and MySQL remain the two most popular open-source Web development technologies. In PHP and MySQL Web Development, the authors share their experience with PHP and MySQL without reservation. This book is a definitive guide to building database-driven Web applications using PHP and MySQL, and has been a best-seller for more than a decade.

As a rising star, PHP has taken the advantages of the formerly popular languages like Java, C and Perl, and focuses on the Internet. So in the field of Web development (especially web services), PHP owns unique advantages. In other words, until now, the ability and position of any other language cannot be comparable to it in the web field. There is no doubt that it will still be the world of the Internet for a long time to come. And, the Internet cannot go without Web, and the Web cannot do without PHP (mainly all kinds of web services based on PHP).

PHP for the Web: Visual QuickStart Guide is a classic introduction book that covers all the basic things about PHP language. It introduces the basic concepts, using methods and the matters needing attention of the PHP language to the beginners in plain language. The whole book uses abundant examples to lead the reader to master this popular Web development language step by step, and enables reader to get started on writing PHP scripts that are applicable to many common scenes.