The biggest problem if you want to try PHP and see if it fits your programming requirements is that you need to upload the PHP script to a server before they can be tested. This can be a hassle as well as a turnoff for a new PHP programmer because he or she may not want to jeopardize files that are already running on his web server.

But there is a solution and it comes in the form of Wampserver. Wampserver is an open source web development environment and allows users to reproduce their server environments on their desktop. This means that with Wampserver, developers do not need to upload their scripts to the server to test them. Wampserver also allows its users to use Apache, PHP and MySql database and comes with PHP MyAdmin allowing easy management of the database, which means you do not need to download and install these applications separately. Installing Wampserver is simply; just go to the Wampserver website and download the application and follow the instructions for setting it up; just like any other program. Once you launch it you should see a small icon in the system tray and by clicking it you can view a menu providing admin options, such as start services, stop, restart etc.

Once you have setup Wampserver on your computer and customized it the way you like you can start running PHP scripts on your desktop computer without having to upload them to a server in order to check them out. Best of all if you make a mistake you won’t end up crashing your server.