To begin working with PHP you must first have access to either of the following:
Although MySQL is not absolutely necessary to use PHP, MySQL and PHP are wonderful complements to one another and some topics covered in this tutorial will require that you have MySQL access.
For those who are experienced enough to do this yourself, simply head over to PHP.net - Downloads and download the most recent version of PHP.
However, if you are like most of us, you will most likely want to follow a guide to installing PHP onto your computer. These guides are kindly provided by PHP.net based on the operating system that you are using.
As we mentioned before, MySQL is not a requirement to use PHP, however they often go hand in hand.
Visit MySQL's MySQL Installation Guide for help on installing MySQL.