Any web development project is incomplete without database. A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can be easily accessed, managed and updated. Today, there are N number of databases available in the market. Out of which, MySQL is a most popular open source database software backed by Oracle. MySQL is not perfect, but it is flexible enough to work well in very demanding environments.
So, What is MySQL?
MySQL is a open source Relational Database Management System based on the SQL language created by a Swedish company, MySQL AB, founded by David Axmark, Allan Larsson and Michael “Monty” Widenius. The first version of MySQL appeared on 23 May 1995. A relational database is a set of tables (datasets with rows and columns) that contain information relating to other tables in the database. MySQL is written in C and C++. Its SQL parser is written in yacc, but it uses a home-brewed lexical analyzer.
How Does MySQL Work?
MySQL has a client-server architecture and can be use in any networked environment. Every client can make request to server using some network. The server processes client requests and returns the results back to the client. In MySQL it is not necessary to have client on the same system as server. Client can send request to remote server using internet connection, but important thing is that server should be in running state at that time.
In MySQL the server is multi-threaded and makes use of all CPU available. Also, it is multi-user, scalable, and robustly designed for mission-critical, heavy-load production systems. It provides both transactional and non-transactional storage engines and supports the addition of other storage engines.
Key Features
MySQL is very fast reliable and flexible Database Management System. MySQL is open source, i.e. anyone can use it for free. And, anyone can modify the code. It supports all the major platforms like Windows, Linux, Solaris, macOS, and FreeBSD.
On the other hand, MySQL developer community is very active and that’s why MySQL gets frequent software updates. The current stable version of MySQL is version 8.0, and developers claims that it provide up to 2 times faster experience than the previous version, isn’t it great?
You know, It is very difficult to handle bad data stored in database than it is to keep the bad data in the first place. Before MySQL there were some ways to ensure that you were only putting same data type in same column and in specified range. But, because of MySQL native JSON data type, there was no way until recently to make sure that certain key/values were present, of the right data type, and in a proper range.
To connect and execute MySQL statements from another language or environment, there are standards-based MySQL connectors and API are available. It provides API’s for C, C++, Eiffel, Java, Perl, PHP and Python. In addition, OLE DB and ODBC providers exist for MySQL data connection in the Microsoft environment.
Their is MySQL .NET Native Provider, which allows native MySQL to .NET access without the need for OLE DB.
MySQL allows transactions to be rolled back, commit, and crash recovery. Most importantly it has a very low memory leakage problem hence it is more efficient and people prefer it.
MySQL provides high productivity to developers by using Triggers, Stored procedures.
MySQL provides a unified visual database graphical user interface tool named “MySQL Workbench” to work with database architects, developers, and Database Administrators.
MySQL version 8.0 provides support for dual passwords: one is the current password, and another is a secondary password, which allows us to transition to the new password.
GUI
MySQL is well-known for its ease of use, but definitely an interface is needed. The open nature of MySQL had spawned quite a number of third party front-ends in addition to their own official one.
MySQL Workbench – the legit incorporated surroundings for MySQL. Developed through MySQL AB, it lets in customers to manage MySQL databases and layout database systems using visible graphical equipment.
DBEdit – A cross-platform database editor supporting Oracle, DB2, MySQL and any JDBC driver providing DB.DBEdit is free, open source and is hosted on SourceForge under GNU licence.
Final Thoughts
The points we have discussed above states that MySQL has too many merits over other databases available. And I would recommend everyone to start your software journey by learning MySQL database.
Capable Machine 
Leave a Reply