A new developer often find setup issues starting Drupal development. I'm trying to make it easier for people.

http://drupal.org/node/147789

Overview: (click read more)

1. Install Mysql, Apache, PHP. Versions should be MySQL 5.x, Apache 2.x, and PHP 5.x. This is harder than it should be. One OK solution is to install XAMPP on Windows. MacPorts has a nice system to install everything one needs.
1. Often, you will find issues with PHP modules not being installed. One should learn how to add PHP modules in Windows and Unix.
2. MySQL connection issues through Apache will also be a configuration issue.