Welcome to the Treehouse Community

The Treehouse Community is a meeting place for developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels to get support. Collaborate here on code errors or bugs that you need feedback on, or asking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project. Join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today. (Note: Only Treehouse students can comment or ask questions, but non-students are welcome to browse our conversations.)

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and a supportive community. Start your free trial today.

PHP PHP Basics (Retired) What is PHP? Intro to Workspaces and PHP Code

Adam Siwiec
Adam Siwiec
12,070 Points
Posted by Adam Siwiec
Adam Siwiec
12,070 Points

PHP downloads for server??

So Hamilton mentioned in the video that there were different versions of PHP and I was wondering if the server just knows how to interpret the PHP or if there is some kind of file (I think he mentioned .x) that would have to be put on the server so It could interpret it.

2 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,135 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,135 Points

The server is a computer, and PHP can be installed on it like any other software or tool. As with anything evolving, some parts of the PHP language depreciate, and eventually a version of the language may drop support for that depreciated item. The opposite is true, new version of the language can bring new options and things that can be done.

Many web hosts are going to install and maintain PHP on their servers. You can usually find out the version number they have installed, and when they update, you'll usually get a notice so you can make sure your PHP code is going to still be compatible with the new version.

Basically, that's what programs like XAMPP, MAMP, WAMP, etc do. They install an array of tools for you like PHP, MySQL, etc to help make development start faster.

You can check out the official PHP website at www.php.net and see the versions, downloads available, etc.