My friends and I (we are newbies) are developing an iOS application which is about scheduling - to find a schedule that meets everyone's available time slots. So we need users' available time slots, save those into the database to calculate, and then output the final result to users.
We start at MAMP, but I don't know if this is the best solution to the application we are building.
We indeed need a server end to operate some calculation loading, so that the data are not necessary saved in client ends. That's why we choose PHP and MySQL. However, I think it's very weird to access information through PHP.
What about Realm? Can I implement Realm to make what I want?
Besides MAMP and Realm, is there any other options for us to do?
Realm can certainly be used to manage storing any data locally to your devices. And if you are able to perform the modifications to your data locally on device instead of the web server, you could consider using the Realm Mobile Platform to manage synchronizing data between your devices as well. Otherwise, it might be more appropriate to (as you said) use a MAMP stack to manually edit and save the data on your server.
It's not weird to access information through PHP. Many web applications (even the likes of Facebook) do it that way. That being said, there are arguably 'better' ways to build web applications in this day and age (for example, Ruby on Rails or node.js), but this really boils down to what you feel comfortable with. If you already know PHP and MySQL, then this is definitely a viable solution.