MySQL Basics

MySQL is a database system. A database is really just a method of storing lots of data in an efficient manner, and a way of extracting that data as well. MySQL uses, naturally enough, SQL, or Structured Query Language, to do its data extraction.

A query is just a way to ask about the information in the database. Generally, when someone says they're familiar with MySQL (or Microsoft SQL, or any of the other database products out there), they probably mean they're familiar with Structured Query Language.

A database is organized into tables, and each table is organized into columns and rows, also called fields and entries, respectively. So, a theoretical database might look like this:

Database: People at NWU Table: Students Email First Name Last Name Year rjh6204 Rob Hruska Junior cas1650 Chris St. Pierre Super-Senior byermall Blonzo Yermalloy Sophomore ... ... ... ... Table: Faculty Email First Name Last Name Department skm Spencer Morrison Psychology jrm J.R. Mbogo Math/CS ... ... ... ... ...

And so on. Due to this organization, you can ask very specific queries, like: "give me all the entries in the 'faculty' table whose last name starts with 'm'." That's what we'll be learning.

Our first table