Why you should develop offline
I recently started diving deeper into web developing and learning more about the code that powers the web. I quickly came across the idea of having a web server running on your local computer. Offline, local web development servers are just like real web servers, except they run on your computer. Here’s a few popular, and free, web development server packages:
- WAMP – Includes Apache, MYSQL and PHP and runs on Windows
- MAMP – Similar to WAMP but for the Mac operating system
- XAMPP – Like the other two, but also includes Perl. XAMPP has versions for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris.
I was a bit skeptical about the benefits of these packages until I started doing more website development. If you’re on the fence, here are a few of the advantages to developing your website and applications on your computer instead of on your “live” server.
Security
A hole in your PHP application can affect the integrity of your entire server. If you’re developing an application on a local computer, the only person that can access it is you so you don’t need to worry about running untested code that is still being developed.
Convenience & Speed
Instead of editing a file, saving, uploading, waiting and then refreshing, all your files are on your local computer. You just need to save and refresh the browser. This will make your development go much faster.
No lengthy uploads
If you have large files that need to be used in the testing of your website or app, they don’t need to be uploaded, you just need to put them in the correct folder on your computer.
Free!
Having a dedicated development server will cost a significant amount of money per month. Using one of the above packages is totally free and comes with even more benefits.
Website Downtime
If you upload some untested code to your live web server and run it, a small mistake in the code could potentially bring down your entire server. This could create a lot of unwanted headaches for you and your clients.
Conclusion
If you’re getting into web development, there is no reason why you shouldn’t try one of these great solutions out. It can make developing web applications a much more enjoyable and secure process.