“与MySQL结合使用的PHP是跨平台的（您可以在Windows中开发并在Unix平台上提供服务）”的确切含义是什么？

Question

I'm learning PHP and I come across the below sentence :

PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in Windows and serve on a Unix platform)

I could not understand the exact meaning of cross-platform in this sentence.

As per my knowledge the environment where PHP is combined MySQL can be set on any platform(like Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.) and development can be done.

When user accesses the website that is developed in an environment where PHP is combined MySQL from any environment(like Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS X, etc.) through the web browser present in the respective environment, it's accessible.

Then where the concern of other environment is there? The web application is accessed through web browser only.

Can the same thing happen when PHP is combined with some other database like MongoDB, Oracle, SQLServer or anything else?

Answer 1

The point is that you may want to have more than one environment where PHP and Mysql are combined. At a minimum you probably want a Dev environment where you write the code and do initial tests, and a production environment where you put a copy of the code once your satisfied with it so that real users can connect to it.

Because PHP and MySQL are cross platform, your Dev and production environments don't have to run the same os. Your Dev environment could be a pc running Windows, and production could be a server running Linux.

However a few things work differently on different operating systems, so there are advantages to making Dev and Live use the same os and generally be as similar as possible.

Answer 2

It just means that the PHP script is cross-platform (do not depends on the ENV OS) as long as all necessary software exists on ENV. It is very rare situation when web project use 3-rd party libraries which depends on specific OS). So PHP and MySQL variation are only an example (you can use any DB server).