MySQL Tutorial

MySQL is one of the world’s most popular Relational Database Management Systems, and it uses SQL(Structured Query Language). The Oracle Corporation developed this as a product. Its first version was released in 1995, and the latest version is 8.0.23.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is open-source and free under the GNU General Public License and also has paid, propriety versions. It can be installed and run on multiple Operating Systems. Maria DB is a direct derivative of MYSQL. MySQL is fast, reliable, flexible, and robust. MySQL works with the underlying operating system to enable efficient storage using the computer storage system, manages users, and encourages robust backup systems.

MySQL works well with most languages but works incredibly well with PHP.

Why MySQL?

The last major version before 8.0.23 was the MySQL version 5.7. Version 5.5 to 5.7 was a significant milestone for MySQL, which included many features like query optimizer performance improvements. InnoDB became the default storage engine, NoSQL-style APIs, partitioning improvements, and improvements to the PEFORMANCE_SCHEMA. Group-commit performance improved by using Inno-DB.

The latest version, version 8 onwards, adds to these updates. Starting version 8, MySQL can now be integrated with cloud systems such as Microsoft Azure, AWS, etc as a “Database as a service”.

According to Holger Mueller, “The introduction of the new MySQL Database Service reduces non-productive, time-consuming database administration tasks and enables developers to focus on innovation. MySQL Database Service now adds an integrated Analytics Engine, which provides a single unified platform for both OLTP and OLAP, enabling a whole set of new, next-generation applications, eliminating the need for developers to rely on multiple databases and tools to ETL across databases as required with other cloud vendors.”

Along with this, MySQL version 8 also includes NoSQL Document Store, atomic and crash-safe DDL sentences, new functions for JSON support, improved sorting, and partial updates.

History of MySQL

MySQL was declared DBMS of the year 2019 from the DB-Engines ranking. It can be a standalone system where client programs can directly query the database. However, MySQL usually forms the backbone for many applications and is used along with other programs. For example, MYSQL is the ‘M’ in the LAMP stack (Linux – Apache – MySQL – Perl/Python).