MYSQL IS THE MOST WIDELY used database system in the Open Source sector. There are many reasons why this is so: • MySQL is fast. • MySQL is stable. • MySQL is easy to learn. • MySQL runs on popular operating systems (Wmdows, Linux, Mac OS X, various flavors of Unix). • MySQL applications can be created in a great variety of programming languages (such as C, C++, CD, Java, Perl, PHp, Python, VB, and VB.NET). • MySQL is extensively documented on the Internet, and there are many books on the subject available. • MySQL is available for many applications free of charge (GPL license). • Since the licensing restrictions of GPL are unacceptable for many commercial applications, there are reasonably priced commercial licenses and optional support contracts. MySQL is on the verge of repeating in the database market the success achieved by Linux in the operating system sector. In combination with PHP or Perl, MySQL is prOviding the database system for more and more web sites. (A favorite combination is Linux + Apache + MySQL + Perl or PHP. Such systems are called "LAMP systems" for short.) MySQL is not just for small web sites; it is used by large firms with huge amounts of data, such as Yahoo!, Slashdot, and Google. What Does This Book Offer? This book provides a complete application- and example-oriented introduction to the database sys~m MySQL. No previous knowledge, either of SQL or database design, is assumed.weiterlesen