localhost

Localhost refers to the local computer that a program is running on. Localhost literally means ‘this computer’.

For example, if you are running a Web browser on your computer, your computer is considered to be the ‘localhost’.

When you type a URL into your browser, you are essentially connecting to a “host” computer somewhere else in the world. This computer serves you the web page that you requested. If you type ‘localhost’ into your browser, however, then your browser will know that you want to connect to the computer you are currently using. If your computer is running web server software like Apache, then your browser will be served a web page by your own computer, which is otherwise known as the localhost.

Every computer connected to the internet has an IP address and your localhost has one too. Typically the IP address is 127.0.0.1.

A localhost is the standard hostname given to the address assigned to the loopback network interface. A loopback network interface is a virtual interface used for system management; such an interface exists but not in a real sense; it is simulated by the computer.

The Usage of localhost:

So why use a localhost? Localhost is often used for testing and development.

When you have the localhost software installed into the computer, like WAMP, LAMP, or MAMP software, etc.(check the next paragraph of this tutorial for more info) you should just typically type ‘localhost’ into your browser in order to pull up your site.

Local server environments can speed up the development time. It is also great for learning purposes.

Another common usage of localhost is when you are installing any type of Ecommerce and CMS templates and websites (like Joomla, WordPress, Magento,Prestashop, etc.) which are database-driven and require the server to work at and function properly. In case you are not ready to run the live server for these types of websites yet, you can use the localhost.

In order to run the localhost on your PC, you should install one of the following software:

1. XAMPP is the most popular PHP development environment.

   XAMPP is a completely free, easy to install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP, and Perl. The XAMPP open source package has been set up to be incredibly easy to install and to use. It can be downloaded from this link this link.

2. MAMP installs a local server environment in a matter of seconds on your Mac OS X computer, be it MacBook or iMac. Like similar packages from the Windows- and Linux-world, MAMP comes free of charge, and is easily installed. MAMP will not compromise any existing Apache installation already running on your system. MAMP is free and can be downloaded from the official site.

3. AppServ is a full-featured of Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin. You can set it up in 1 minite. Can be downloaded from the official site.