php mysql intro

With PHP, you can connect to and manipulate databases.

MySQL is the most popular database system used with PHP.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is a database system used on the web

MySQL is a database system that runs on a server

MySQL is ideal for both small and large applications

MySQL is very fast, reliable, and easy to use

MySQL uses standard SQL

MySQL compiles on a number of platforms

MySQL is free to download and use

MySQL is developed, distributed, and supported by Oracle Corporation

MySQL is named after co-founder Monty Widenius's daughter: My

The data in a MySQL database are stored in tables. A table is a collection of related data, and it consists of columns

and rows.

Databases are useful for storing information categorically. A company may

have a database with the following tables:

Employees

Products

Customers

Orders

PHP + MySQL Database System

PHP combined with MySQL are cross-platform (you can develop in

Windows and serve on a Unix platform)

Database Queries

A query is a question or a request.

We can query a database for specific information and have a

recordset returned.

Look at the following query (using standard SQL):

The query above selects all the data in the "LastName" column from the "Employees"

table.

To learn more about SQL, please visit our SQL

tutorial.

Download MySQL Database

If you don't have a PHP server with a MySQL Database, you can download it

for free here:

http://www.mysql.com

Facts About MySQL Database

MySQL is the de-facto standard database system for web sites

with HUGE volumes of both data and end-users (like Facebook, Twitter,

and Wikipedia).

Another great thing about MySQL is that it can be scaled down to support

embedded database applications.

Look at

http://www.mysql.com/customers/ for an overview of companies using MySQL.