Today, Vikram shows us the basics of a database and are introduced to concepts like Database Management Systems and Relational Database Management Systems. We are also given a thorough overview of MySQL and its features. This excerpt comes from chapter one of MySQL: The Complete Reference, by Vikram Vaswani (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, ISBN 0-07-222477-0, 2004).
MySQL is a high-performance, multi-threaded, multi-user RDBMS built around a client-server architecture. Designed specifically for speed and stability, it has, over the last few years, become one of the most popular RDBMS for database-driven software applications, both on and off the web. Today, more than 4 million web sites create, use, and deploy MySQL-based applications; that number rises daily (as stated on the official MySQL web site, at http://www.mysql.com/).
The MySQL RDBMS consists of the following two components:
Server-side tools These include the MySQL database server, which is the core software engine responsible for creating and managing databases, executing queries and returning query results, and maintaining security, together with additional tools to manage multiple MySQL servers, optimize and repair MySQL tables, and create bug reports.
Client-side tools These include a command-line MySQL client, tools to manage MySQL user permissions, and utilities to import and export MySQL databases. Also included are command-line tools to view and copy MySQL databases and tables, maintain tables, and retrieve server status information. These components are discussed in detail in subsequent chapters of this book.
Remember: this is chapter one of MySQL: The Complete Reference, by Vikram Vaswani (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, ISBN 0-07-222477-0, 2004). Vikram is the founder of Melonfire, and has had numerous articles featured on Dev Shed. Buy this book now.
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