MySQL Information and Resources

Overview of MySQL

MySQL is a database management system that is written in Structured Query Language (SQL). It is both multi-threaded (can execute multiple commands at the same time) and multi-user (more than one user at a time can run commands). MySQL is a very popular system, with millions of installations worldwide. Some of the more famous companies that use MySQL include Apple Computer, Amazon.com, Google Adwords, NASA, Craigslist (a popular job posting board) and many others.

History of MySQL

MySQL is owned by a Swedish company, MySQL AB. MySQL was originally developed in the mid 1990’s and as released on the Windows platform in 1998. It is extremely popular as the back end to many web applications. It is often used with PHP in web development projects. MySQL is available on almost all platforms, and most of the popular front end application programming languages can be used to access MySQL databases. There have been several awards granted to programs using MySQL.

The popular pronunciation of the product is “My sequel” although this is incorrect. According to MySQL AB, the correct pronunciation is of the letters themselves, or “my ess queue ell”.

Learning MYSQL

MySQL is said to be one of the easier database applications to learn. As a Software Engineer, you would want to learn how to code programs to run on a MySQL database. As a database administrator, you would want to learn how to set up and support MySQL databases for your company. Courses are available through many community colleges and universities.

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