Chapter 5. SQL and MySQL
In
this chapter, we introduce the SQL database query language and the
MySQL©[1] database management system. Using our case
study winestore database as a worked example, we
show you how to use SQL to define, manipulate, and query databases.
At the end of this chapter, you'll have the database
skills to build a database tier for your web database applications.[1] MySQL is a trademark of MySQL
AB.
In this chapter, we cover the following topics:A short introduction to relational databasesA quick start guide to the example winestore
database and its entity-relationship modelThe MySQL command interpreter and the basic features of MySQLUsing SQL to create and drop databases and tablesUsing SQL to insert, delete, and update dataQuerying with SQL, illustrated through examples and a case study
We assume that you have already installed MySQL and loaded the sample
winestore database. If not, the guides in
Appendix A through Appendix C will help you.The techniques that we discuss are used to interact with MySQL after
a database has been designed and expressed as SQL statements. An
introduction to relational modeling and design can be found in Appendix E. Managing and using the MySQL database
server, and more advanced SQL features, are discussed in Chapter 15. Chapter 8 covers
issues that arise when multiple users are writing to web databases.