MySQL
MySQL (/ˌmaɪˌɛsˌkjuːˈɛl/)[5] is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS).[5][6] Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My,[7] and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A relational database organizes data into one or more data tables in which data may be related to each other; these relations help structure the data. SQL is a language that programmers use to create, modify and extract data from the relational database, as well as control user access to the database. In addition to relational databases and SQL, an RDBMS like MySQL works with an operating system to implement a relational database in a computer's storage system, manages users, allows for network access and facilitates testing database integrity and creation of backups.
Original author(s)
23 May 1995
/ 16 January 2024
MySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License, and is also available under a variety of proprietary licenses. MySQL was owned and sponsored by the Swedish company MySQL AB, which was bought by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle Corporation).[8] In 2010, when Oracle acquired Sun, Widenius forked the open-source MySQL project to create MariaDB.[9]
MySQL has stand-alone clients that allow users to interact directly with a MySQL database using SQL, but more often, MySQL is used with other programs to implement applications that need relational database capability. MySQL is a component of the LAMP web application software stack (and others), which is an acronym for Linux, Apache, MySQL, Perl/PHP/Python. MySQL is used by many database-driven web applications, including Drupal, Joomla, phpBB, and WordPress.[10] MySQL is also used by many popular websites, including Facebook,[11][12] Flickr,[13] MediaWiki,[14] Twitter,[15] and YouTube.[16]
Overview[edit]
MySQL is written in C and C++. Its SQL parser is written in yacc, but it uses a home-brewed lexical analyzer.[17] MySQL works on many system platforms, including AIX, BSDi, FreeBSD, HP-UX, ArcaOS, eComStation, IBM i, IRIX, Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, NetBSD, Novell NetWare, OpenBSD, OpenSolaris, OS/2 Warp, QNX, Oracle Solaris, Symbian, SunOS, SCO OpenServer, SCO UnixWare, Sanos and Tru64. A port of MySQL to OpenVMS also exists.[18]
The MySQL server software itself and the client libraries use dual-licensing distribution. They are offered under GPL version 2, or a proprietary license.[19]
Support can be obtained from the official manual.[20] Free support additionally is available in different IRC channels and forums. Oracle offers paid support via its MySQL Enterprise products. They differ in the scope of services and in price. Additionally, a number of third party organisations exist to provide support and services.
MySQL has received positive reviews, and reviewers noticed it "performs extremely well in the average case" and that the "developer interfaces are there, and the documentation (not to mention feedback in the real world via Web sites and the like) is very, very good".[21] It has also been tested to be a "fast, stable and true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database server".[22]
User interfaces[edit]
Graphical user interfaces[edit]
A graphical user interface (GUI) is a type of interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices or programs through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation, as opposed to text-based interfaces, typed command labels or text navigation.
Third-party proprietary and free graphical administration applications (or "front ends") are available that integrate with MySQL and enable users to work with database structure and data visually.
Application programming interfaces[edit]
Many programming languages with language-specific APIs include libraries for accessing MySQL databases. These include MySQL Connector/Net for .NET/CLI Languages,[118] and the JDBC driver for Java.[119]
In addition, an ODBC interface called MySQL Connector/ODBC allows additional programming languages that support the ODBC interface to communicate with a MySQL database, such as ASP or ColdFusion. The HTSQL – URL-based query method also ships with a MySQL adapter, allowing direct interaction between a MySQL database and any web client via structured URLs. Other drivers exists for languages like Python[120] or Node.js.[121]
Media related to MySQL at Wikimedia Commons