LAMP

What's LAMP?

LAMP is an acronym for a solution stack of free, open source software, originally coined from the first letters of Linux (operating system), Apache HTTP Server, MySQL (database software) and Perl/PHP/Python, principal components to build a viable general purpose web server.

The exact combination of software included in a LAMP package may vary, especially with respect to the web scripting software, as PHP may be replaced or supplemented by Perl and/or Python. Similar terms exist for essentially the same software suite (AMP) running on other operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows (WAMP), Mac OS (MAMP), Solaris (SAMP), or OpenBSD (OAMP).

History

Michael Kunze coined the acronym LAMP in an article for the German computing magazine c't in April 1998. The article aimed to show that a bundle of free software could provide a viable alternative to commercial packages. Knowing the IT-world's love of acronyms, Kunze came up with LAMP as a marketing-like term to increase the popularity of free software. O'Reilly and MySQL AB have made the term popular among English-speakers. Indeed, MySQL AB has since based some of its marketing efforts on the popularity of the LAMP stack.

Software Components

  • Linux: Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system kernel. A major emphasis of Linux development is security, which makes it an appealing choice for a web-server application.
  • Apache:  Apache is a free software/open source web server, the most popular in use.
  • MySQL: MySQL is a multithreaded, multi-user, SQL database management system (DBMS) now owned by Oracle Corporation with more than eleven million installations.
  • PHP, Perl, or Python: PHP is a reflective programming language originally designed for producing dynamic web pages. PHP is used mainly in server-side application software. Perl and Python can be used similarly.


Advantages

  • Easy to code: Novices can build something and get it up and running very quickly with PHP and MySQL.
  • Easy to deploy: Since PHP is a standard Apache module, it is easy to deploy PHP web applications by uploading .php files once MySQL is running.
  • Develop locally: LAMP can be set up so an app can be built locally, then deploy on the Web.
  • Cheap and ubiquitous hosting: Even the cheapest Web hosts options allow PHP and MySQL to be run