What best practices should be followed when setting up a local server for PHP development, especially for beginners?

Setting up a local server for PHP development is essential for testing and debugging code before deploying it to a live server. For beginners, it is recommended to use a software package like XAMPP or WampServer, which includes Apache, MySQL, and PHP pre-configured for easy installation. Additionally, it's important to create a separate folder in the server's document root to store your PHP files and access them via a browser using the localhost address.

<?php
// Sample PHP code snippet for setting up a local server
// Create a new folder in the server's document root (e.g., htdocs for XAMPP)
// Save your PHP files in this folder and access them via localhost
// For example, if your file is named index.php, access it using http://localhost/foldername/index.php
?>