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PHP and MySQL
PHP is a server-side scripting language. Like ASP, PHP script is processed by the Web server. After the server plays with the PHP code, it returns plain old HTML back to the browser. This kind of interaction allows for some complex operations.
MySQL is a small, compact database server ideal for small - and not so small - applications. In addition to supporting standard SQL (ANSI), it compiles on a number of platforms and has multithreading abilities on Unix servers, which equals great performance. For non-Unix people, MySQL can run as a service on Windows NT and as a normal process in Windows 95/98 machines.
In addition to being free (MySQL does have some licensing restrictions though), the PHP-MySQL combination is also cross-platform, which means you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform. Also, PHP can be run as an external CGI process, a stand-alone script interpreter, or an embedded module. PHP also supports a massive number of databases, including Informix, Oracle, Sybase, Solid, and PostgreSQL - as well as the ubiquitous ODBC. PHP supports a host of other features of Internet development. These include authentication, XML, dynamic image creation, WDDX, shared memory support, and dynamic PDF document creation. PHP is easy to extend, so you can roll your own solution if you're programming savvy.
Finally, since both efforts are collaborative in nature, there's always plenty of support from documentation and mailing lists. Bugs are fixed rapidly, and requests for features are always heard, evaluated, and if feasible, implemented.
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