PHP Web Development is a far cry from its original inception as Perl extensions
. Beginning as a simple script on a home page, it is now on over 200 million sites on the internet.
Remembering two key elements are necessary when creating in PHP.
There are two things to remember when creating in PHP.
You do not have to build on a Linux but it is highly recommended. A Linux system is similar to what is used on servers where your project will be sent to. For the most part, local servers are Windows based. As stated previously, web based creations run on a Linux server. It may not seem like much an issue but it is. Windows based servers are not case sensitive. Linux servers are. Using a link like http://name.com/folderName/ on a Windows server may seem great. You check it and it works. So, you send it to the webserver. All of a sudden, it does not work anymore. When you select the link, the message page not found shows up. You know the page is there.
Linux systems are more stable.
If you just cannot tear yourself away from Windows, try to get the development environment as close to Linux as possible.
SVN and CVS is pretty much the same thing. Both save your work to a system that enables you retrieve to preceding versions of your work if you need to. Being able to retrieve the information is very important. There are those that believe that SVN is only useful for projects that more than one person are working on. Each person can retrieve and use the file at the same time. Any problems that develop are handled by SVN by merging all the information into one file when possible. Using SVN as an individual is good because you are able to look at preceding versions and restore to that point if necessary.
Hopefully you can tell just how relevant this information is developing as well as PHP. It is suggested that to do these two things in the order listed when getting started in developing your application that will be in a structured and controlled environment.