Module 7: Interfacing with Programs

1.	What do the acronyms PHP and HTML stand for?
2.	What does the following line of code do? $link = mysql_connect('localhost', 'ron', 'sc0rp1o');
3.	What symbol do you add to the beginning of a function name to suppress the warning output?
4.	What is the PHP equivalent of the MySQL command SHOW TABLES ?
5.	What do the PHP functions for forcing type casting do?
6.	What security issue does the mysql_escape_string() function guard against?
7.	What two methods in PEAR::DB are used to deal with the results from a query (or prepare/execute)?
8.	What is database abstraction?
9.	What are the two ways to export data from MySQL and import data into Microsoft Excel?
10.	How can Microsoft Access be directly linked to MySQL in order to view its data?

Answers

1.	PHP stands for Pre-Hypertext Processor, and HTML stands for Hypertext Markup Language.
2.	It creates a link to a MySQL database housed on the localhost server for a user called ron with a password of sc0rp1o .
3.	You add an at symbol ( @ ) to the beginning of a function if you want to suppress the warning output.
4.	The PHP equivalent of SHOW TABLES is mysql_list_tables() .
5.	The PHP functions to force type casting set a variable to a specific type, such as Boolean, integer, float, string, array, object, or null.
6.	The mysql_escape_string() function guards against SQL injections.
7.	The fetchInto() and fetchRow() methods in PEAR::DB deal with the results from a query (or prepare/execute).
8.	Database abstraction is the separation between application code and database-specific functions in a mixed environment, which makes these issues more manageable.
9.	The two ways in which you can export data from MySQL and import data to Excel are by file and by ODBC connection.
10.	Microsoft Access can be directly linked to a MySQL database using ODBC, allowing you to view its data and manipulate it in the database, but not change the table s format.