You can have Wamp or Xamp installed on your system for quick setup. Best would be to have proper installation done of PHP, MySQL & Apache.
If you mean which software is used to create php applications the answer is anything that you can type in! So write your code using any text-editor then name it ANYTHING.php and put it on a server with php installed and your code will be executed! if you want to test the code on your local PC you need to install Apache, PHP and probably MySQL if you need to use a database. an easy way to do this is to just download and install an application named XAMPP which has Apache, MySQL, PHP, PERL and some more all packaged together.
PHP can be used on any system but is typically used on a LAMP stack which is linux, apache, mysql, php. This provides a full working system to conduct all your basic php functions some advanced sites will need java support as well. You can Generally get this by signing up for a web hosting plan that uses a Plesk or cPanel control panel.
You need to install any PHP, MySQL into your system, and if you want to understand or learn it, then you can go to google where you can use the Kew word for learning php, where you can easily get all the knowledge related to php.
1) do you own a PC or do you have $250 to buy PC parts? I assume you do since you are posting on here, but I guess you could be at a cafe of sorts. 2) get your hands on any of the above mentioned and install 3) go to p h p . n e t and start reading and attempting. There are also 100's of other resources out there with tutorials on the interwebs (a series of pipes and tubes. 4) repeat step 3. -MT
Install LAMP stack on your your machine (Window, MAC..). You can install XAMP, Wamp. I prefer XAMP. Either one will install PHP, Perl, Apache, MySQL, PHP for you. For PHP editor, I use notepad++, Crimson Editor. I've seen people using Dreamweaver, but I don't like dreamweaver that much. Little John
It's not ZAMP and it's not XAMP either! It's XAMPP: X: Any OS since it's cross-platform A: Apache M: MySQL P: PHP P: Perl
I suggest that you download and install xampp or, if you're using windows, wamp. Apache, MySQL and PHP are bundled in both packages. Installing the three servers on your own is a pain; these packages make installation very easy. For editing PHP files, I recommend Dreamweaver.