Open source software LAMP

For Linux-like OS users, LAMP is a familiar acronym. It originally stood for [L]inux [A]pache [M]ySQL [P]erl, although the [P] is now commonly used to stand for PHP, Python, or Programming languages rather than being limited to Perl scripting.  This constitutes a complete web server package, and is remarkable in that it is Open Source software, allowing the end user the freedom to look at or even modify the source code.  In addition to the customization available through Open Source, LAMP packages, like most Linux distributions, is usually available free of charge.  Because of the unbeatable cost, as well as patly due to being included in many Linux distributions, LAMP has become a popular solution stack for creating and maintaining websites of a dynamic nature.  The basic package consists of an Operating System (Linux), a web server (Apache), a database and/or data distribution application (MySQL), and the tools needed for actually (Programming) in an applicable scripting language.  Use of the acronym is credited to being first used in 1998 in an article intended to demonstrate the feasibility of free software in high-end applications.  There are a number of AMP package variations, ranging from the scripting language used to the database being implemented (PostgresSQL is another favorite), with most packages having cross-platform versions.

LAMP revolves around the Linux kernel, which is the nexus of the operating system.  Linux itself has had a large role in promoting Open Source software, as it’s original purpose was to be a full featured operating system that was built upon the combined effort of the creative commons (although this was long before that term had been created).  Linux is a mid to high-end operating system, designed with more stability and flexibility than can be expected from a MS-DOS derived architecture.  It can be run on devices ranging from cell phones to mainframes, and has been recognized for years as a successor the the original UNIX OS which has been known to the academic and scientific communities since the 1970’s.

Apache HTTP Server is credited with playing a large role in the explosion of interactive websites starting in the second half of the 1990’s and continuing on the present day.  Beginning as a competitor to the Netscape Communications web server (known known as the Sun Java Web Server), its roots are deeply embedded in the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).  Apache has been a market leader in webserving applications almost since it’s first release, and was thought to hold better than 49% of the total market share as recently as June of 2007.  Apache, in addition to being free and Open Source, is highly portable, with versions available for numerous OS, including Linux, UNIX, Windows, OS X, and Solaris.  As with Linux, Apache exists at least partially in support of the concept of Open Source software.

MySQL (pronounced My skew el) is a relational database that allows multiple connections to data, as well as having the ability to parse several different types of data dynamically.  It is Open Source, open platform, although it is based on proprietary original code owned by Sun Microsystems.  It is the driving application behind such popular online sites as Wikipedia, and is a fundamental part of the amazingly well received WordPress blogging scripts (which are nothing more than a set of MYSQL scripts, when all is said and done).

PHP was developed in 1995, and is considered by the Free Software Foundation to be on the list of free software available to the general public.  Originally written as a personal web page processor, it is reported to be an acronym for (Personal Home Page), and was the first known software developed expressly to create interactive web pages that could process information dynamically.  It even has the ability of allowing embedded HTML code inside commands issued from remote sources, and is beyond doubt a major player in transforming the worldwide web away from the the “online newspaper” image of the early 1990’s to the dynamic and interactive web that is widely used today.

Article written by MyComputerAid.com