A database software is a type of computer program that is designed to
handle lots of data, but to store them in such a way
that finding (and thus retrieving) any snippet of data is more efficient
than it would have been if you simply dumped them
willy nilly all over the place. With such database software, if you
(say) keep a list of customers and their shipping addresses,
entering and retrieving information about your one millionth customer
will not take much longer (if at all) than entering and retrieving
information about your 1st customer.
Database programs have many different methods for storing and retrieving data, as well as for organising the stored data on
the computer. One popular way for accessing data, both to store and to retrieve it, is to use a computer language called
"SQL" (often pronounced as "sequel"). SQL was specially designed for database access.
There are many databases that support the use of
SQL to access their data, among them MySQL and PostgreSQL. In other words, MySQL is just a type of database, one of many. The
same goes for PostgreSQL. These two databases are commonly used by programs that run on websites.if you are a programmer, intending to write a computer program that actually accesses MySQL or some other SQL
database, then you will need to learn SQL (as well as a programming language).
Introduction to Databases
Getting a MySQL Server
Creating a Database
SHOW and SELECT
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