What You Can Expect from This Book

By reading this book, you'll learn how to use MySQL effectively so that you can get your work done more productively. You'll be able to figure out how to get your information into a database, and you'll learn how to formulate queries that give you the answers to the questions you want to ask of that data.

You don't need to be a programmer to understand or use SQL. This book will show you how it works. But there's more to understanding how to use a database properly than just knowing SQL syntax. This book emphasizes MySQL's unique capabilities and shows how to use them.

You'll also see how MySQL integrates with other tools. The book shows how to use MySQL with PHP or Perl to generate dynamic Web pages created from the result of database queries. You'll learn how to write your own programs that access MySQL databases. All of these enhance MySQL's capabilities to handle the requirements of your particular applications.

If you'll be responsible for administrating a MySQL installation, this book will tell you what your duties are and how to carry them out. You'll learn how to set up user accounts, perform database backups, and make sure your site is secure.