PHP / MySQL Tutorial
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.
MySQL has been criticized in the past because it does not have all the features of
other DataBase Management Systems. However, MySQL continues to improve significantly,
with each major upgrade, and has great popularity because of these improvements.
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.
Learn MySQL
Before you begin this tutorial you should have a basic knowledge of the information
covered in our PHP and
HTML tutorials.
This tutorial focuses heavily on using MySQL in a PHP environment and is aimed
at persons who have a web host with PHP and MySQL already installed.
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