Almost anyone who’s played around with PHP before has run into the subject of databases. MySQL databases are the most common method of storing massive amounts of data to later be sorted through and retrieved for display via script. WordPress stores all of it’s posts and settings in MySQL tables, forum scripts are powered by databases, sites like Amazon, YouTube, and of course IMDB make extensive use of databases. If you think about it, most modern websites are just pretty user interfaces for databases.
As common as they may be, databases sure are mysterious critters. It look me awhile to grasp the concept of them at first, and even longer for me to pick-up the skills required to make use of them. In addition to knowing a scripting language like PHP or Perl, and how to submit a query to the DB server, you also need to know the SQL language.
I just finished a great book on MySQL. Learning MySQL by Seyed M.M. Tahaghoghi and Hugh Williams is a comprehensive and well-explained book that teaches you from the ground up about MySQL databases and how to work with them. It introduces the concept of a database, walks you through installing the MySQL server software (if you’re not already running it), explains querying, then moves on to the real meat of the book: Structured Query Language, or SQL. It covers basic SELECTS and INSERTs, JOINS, nested queries, table and column types, and really everything you need to know to get started.
Following chapters cover topics like using PHP or Perl to interact with databases (as opposed to using a MySQL prompt) and securing web applications. There are also sections on planning database structures optimally, optimizing performance.
The book is written in a manner that should make it easy to follow, it’s full of code examples to try out, and overall is enough to give you a general to intermediate knowledge of MySQL. It also works as a handy reference.
