VirtualMV/Digital Learning Technologies/Open Source Applications/Application stack

Introduction
An Application (or solution) stack is a set of software subsystems or components needed to deliver a fully functional solution.

For example, to develop a web application the following components are needed

There is also MAMP for Apple computers (Mac OS X, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python).

Once you have an operational Web Server stack, you can add Open Source Applications, such as, WordPress, MediaWiki, Moodle, which are complete applications written in the appropriate programming language (for all of the examples PHP).

Stack downloads
There are several places you can download complete stacks


 * Uniform server - http://www.uniformserver.com/
 * The Uniform Server is a WAMP package that allows you to run a server on any MS Windows OS based computer. It is small and mobile to download or move around and can also be used or setup as a production/live server. Developers also use The Uniform Server to test their applications made with either PHP, MySQL, Perl, or the Apache HTTPd Server
 * Bitnami: http://bitnami.org/
 * Free, easy to setup wikis, blogs, forums and many other web applications that you can run locally or in the cloud. BitNami makes deploying server software a simple and enjoyable process.
 * Microsoft Web Matrix: http://www.microsoft.com/web/default.aspx
 * WebMatrix is a brand new web development tool from Microsoft that includes everything you need for website development. Start from open source web applications, built-in web templates or just start writing code yourself. It’s all-inclusive, simple and free.