Overview

LAMP is an open source Web development platform based on Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, a programming language for which Perl or Python is sometimes substituted. The term was coined in Europe, where these programs are commonly used together and have become something of a standard development environment. The name derives from the first letters of each of the programs. Each program is an open source standard in its own right: Linux is the operating system; Apache is the most commonly-used Web server; MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS) with add-on tools for Web-based administration; and PHP is a popular object-oriented scripting language that encompasses the best features of many other programming languages to make it efficient for Web development. Developers that use these tools with a version of a Windows operating system instead of Linux are said to be using WAMP.

Benefits

In contrast, LAMP offers a completely open source development stack that is lightweight, inexpensive, highly efficient and easy to use. Several features distinguish LAMP from proprietary application frameworks and offer advantages that are helping corporate developers and IT managers bring new applications online more quickly and at lower cost while simplifying their infrastructures and improving their returns on IT investment.

Speed and Simplicity

The use of high-level scripting languages improves developer productivity. The language components of the LAMP stack— PHP, Python and Perl—were created specifically to simplify, streamline and accelerate the type of programming tasks typical of Web development and administration. They are particularly well suited to text handling and to database access for dynamic content generation. In general, they feature a simple, clear syntax that makes them easy to learn. Additionally, they are interpreted rather than compiled, which simplifies debugging. They are also highly efficient, with a one-line script often performing the same work as many lines of low-level code.

A Culture of Cooperation

The open source community and its culture of knowledge- and resource-sharing accelerate problem-solving. Community knowledgebase and libraries of sample application code help compress development time by enabling convenient reuse and adaptation.

Low Overhead

The compact LAMP component stack simplifies deployment and reduces processing overhead. Very tight integration between PHP and Apache, for instance, eliminates the need for application server software and in many instances eliminates an entire physical server tier.

Platform Portability

Because LAMP runs on a wide range of hardware platforms, users have maximum flexibility in deployment and server infrastructure design decisions. Of particular value is the option to deploy on clusters or grids of affordable x86-based servers. These utility computing architectures provide an optimized combination of efficient resource utilization, high availability, versatility and instant scalability.

Security and Stability

The LAMP server stack has a lower bug density— the number of bugs per thousand lines of code—than a baseline of 32 open source projects analyzed, according to a 2006 study by Coverity, a maker of code-analysis tools. In the analysis, more than 17.5 million lines of code from 32 open source projects were scanned. On average, 0.434 bugs per 1,000 lines of code were found, Coverity reports. The LAMP server stack, however, "showed significantly better software quality," with an average of 0.29 defects per 1,000 lines of code.