This test environment is not connected to the internet, but can be accessed and shared with others for testing through FTP and localhost. After some customisation and configuration of additional modules (like Tomcat, FileZilla and phpMyAdmin) the test server is ready to use.įrom there, the developer can start a new project, insert their PHP or Perl code, and XAMPP will execute it and host it in a local test environment. A XAMPP server can be downloaded from one single file, and installed with the help of an intuitive setup wizard. These components together in one package provide a developer with all the tools needed to host a local, offline test environment, without having to download and install everything individually. Although there is no official standard for the order of the Ps in the ‘XAMPP’ abbreviation, it’s commonly accepted for PHP to go first.Īs such, the entire abbreviation can be written as ‘Cross-platform Apache HTTP Server, MariaDB (previously MySQL) PHP & Perl’. Perl is a dynamic programming language that is used in higher-level web applications, system administration and network programming. This makes it an obvious choice as a component of an XAMPP server. Facebook, WordPress) and works perfectly with MariaDB. It is the language behind some of the most popular websites on the internet (e.g. Fortunately, this change had no effect on the ‘XAMPP’ abbreviation. MariaDB is an off-shoot of MySQL and has many of the same features, with a few improvements. The ‘M’ used to stand for MySQL, but in November 2015, XAMPP developers replaced MySQL with MariaDB as its primary database application. A database stores any data collected or distributed on the web application. MariaDB is the relational database management system in XAMPP. In XAMPP, Apache is the web server that is locally ‘hosting’ the web application and displaying it. A stands for Apache HTTP ServerĪpache is the most popular web server, and Apache products power over half the internet. ‘XAMPP’ is an acronym (or initialism – depending on whether you want to pronounce it as ‘Zamp’ or ‘ExAyEmPeePee’) where: X represents ‘Cross-platform’Ĭross-platform functionality means that XAMPP works with Windows, macOS, or Linux operating systems. XAMPP is a free and open-source software package that bundles in everything needed for developers to create local web servers for testing. One way of building a local test environment is with XAMPP. That’s why it’s important to have a non-live test environment, where these bugs can be found and fixed before the website goes live to the public. A developer could code what they think is a beautiful and functional web application, but once it gets handed over for testing there might be a whole load of unforeseen faults with it. An important part of web development is in testing.

What is xampp