mairving — Fri, 02 Mar 2001 02:09:27 +0000

For the most part, MYSQL runs in Linux or Unix. They have ported it to Windows also. The structure is still very much using the command line. If you know SQL, you are 80-90% there. MYSQL intergrates very nicely with PHP and PERL. You can also use phpwizard ( http://www.phpwizard.net ) to access and create your databases. Some hosts like the one I use have MYSQL and the phpwizard built in.

Gil — Thu, 01 Mar 2001 01:39:27 +0000

What you're referring to is the language (Structured Query Language). MySQL (or I'm assuming MSSQL in your case) is the database server application which actually stores information and creates the database. The SQL language is used to instruct the database server (MySQL, MSSQL, etc) to perform whatever action you need it to.

ShinNathan — Thu, 01 Mar 2001 01:05:08 +0000

Kind of confused here...

I use asp. In that I use what I think is pure SQL. It seems exactly the same as MySQL. Is MySQL needed to get SQL running on Linux or something?

Guess what I am asking is, what is MySQL and why is it different from just SQL.

(Tought my self everything I know, so there are some major gaps in my knowledge)

mairving — Sun, 25 Feb 2001 18:22:20 +0000

The documentation on MYSQL's site is terrible. I have an O'Reilly book called MSQL & MYSQL in a Nutshell. It is a pretty good intro into MYSQL. Even if you use phpMyAdmin, you still need to know your way around MYSQL. Learn security first and foremost. I learned MS Access first and then branched into MYSQL. You will also need to know your way around Apache & Linux. You can also get a tutorial at http://www.devshed.com/Server_Side/MySQL/Intro/ .

Gil — Sun, 25 Feb 2001 16:10:14 +0000

Here's the thing. MySQL (and its counterparts: SQL Server, PostgreSQL and Oracle) are methods of organizing data and quickly retrieving that data. They are stored in a much more complex fashion than a flat (text) file database, and while that flat file database might be less resource intensive and smaller, it takes much more programming to select the name column of each line in your flat file database.

Let me give you an example. Let's say you have a flat file database like this:
Name|Address|City|State|DOB

Now, let's say you wanted to grab the name of every person on that database. In Perl (which I'll use just for demonstration), you'd have to do something like this:

open(FILE,"peopledb.txt");
@people=<FILE>;
close(FILE);

foreach $line(@people) {
  @columns = split(/|/, $line);
  push(@names, $columns[0]);
}

The result is an array with names in it. Now who wants to do that? Here is where database servers rock. If you had a database table named People with the same info and structure, all you would have to do is this:
Select Name FROM People'

So you can see how powerful it is. When I first got into databases, I was confused on how to get started using MySQL. Unfortunately I haven't ever seen a quick start guide to using MySQL on the web, so you might need to buy a book. But you might also try using phpMyAdmin available from phpwizard.net. It's basically a series of scripts that allow you to setup your database.

Good luck fifeclub!

Mark Hensler — Sun, 25 Feb 2001 06:56:46 +0000

Yes, mySQL *IS* that much better than flat files.

You can have more than one script using the same Database, just make sure that they don't try to use tables with the same name.