MySQL is the most popular open source database server in existence. On top of that, it is very commonly used in conjunction with PHP scripts to create dynamic and powerful server applications

What is a Database?

A database is a structure that comes in two flavors: a flat database and a relational database. A relational database is much more oriented to the human mind and is often preferred over the gabble-de-gook flat database. MySQL is a relational database.

In a relational structured database there are tables that store data. Each table is made up of columns and rows. A table's columns define what kind of information is going to be stored. You need an individual column for each type of information you wished to store (i.e. Age, Weight, Height).

While columns define what kind of information is going to be stored, a row is the actual data that is stored. Each table row is an entry of that table and contains values for each of the table's columns (i.e. Entry Bob: 65 years old, 165 lbs, and 6'2"). If all this relational database talk is confusing, do not despair, we talk about and show a few table examples in future lessons.

Why Use a Database?

Databases are most useful when it comes to storing information that fits into logical categories. For example, say that you wanted to store information of all the employees in a company. With a database you could group different parts of your business into separate tables. Example tables might be: sales, employees, debt, performance measurements, etc.

MySQL database introduction

The MySQL database package consists of the following:

• The MySQL server : This is the heart of MySQL. You can consider it a program that stores and manages your databases.
• MySQL client programs : MySQL comes with many client programs. The one with which we'll be dealing a lot is called mysql (note: smallcaps). This provides an interface through which you can issue SQL statements and have the results displayed.
• MySQL client Library : This can help you in writing client programs in C. (We won't be taking about this in our tutorial).