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Part I: Usage
I
n today’s interconnected world, it’s almost impossible to find a business that
doesn’t depend on information in some form or another. Be it marketing data,
financial movements, or operational statistics, businesses today live or die by their
ability to manage, massage, and filter information flow in order to achieve a
competitive advantage.
More often than not, all this data finds a home in a business’ relational database
management system (RDBMS), a software tool that assists in organizing, retrieving,
and cross-referencing information. A large number of such systems are currently
available, and you’ve probably already heard of some of them: Oracle, Sybase,
Microsoft Access, and PostgreSQL are well-known names. These database systems are
powerful, feature-rich software applications, capable of organizing and searching
millions of records at high speeds; as such, they’re widely used by businesses and
government offices, often for mission-critical purposes.
Recently, though, more and more attention has focused on a relatively new entrant
in this field: MySQL.
MySQL is a high-performance, multithreaded, multiuser RDBMS built around a
client-server architecture. Over the last few years, this fast, robust, and user-friendly
database system has become the de facto choice for both business and personal use,
notably on account of its advanced suite of data management tools, its friendly
licensing policy, and its worldwide support community of users and engineers. This
introductory chapter will gently introduce you to the world of MySQL by taking you
on a whirlwind tour of MySQL’s history, features, and technical architecture.
History
MySQL came into being in 1979, when Michael “Monty” Widenius created a database
system named UNIREG for the Swedish company TcX. UNIREG didn’t, however, have
a Structured Query Language (SQL) interface—something that caused it to fall out of
favor with TcX in the mid-1990s. So TcX began looking for alternatives. One of those
alternatives was mSQL, a competing DBMS created by David Hughes.
mSQL didn’t work for TcX either, however, so Widenius decided to create a new
database server customized to his specific requirements. That system, completed and
released to a small group in May 1996, became the first version of what is today known
as MySQL.
A few months later, MySQL 3.11 saw its first public release as a binary distribution
for Solaris. Linux source and binaries followed shortly; an enthusiastic developer
community and a friendly, General Public License (GPL)-based licensing policy took
care of the rest. Today, MySQL is available for a wide variety of platforms, including
Linux, MacOS, and Windows, in both source and binary form.
A few years later, TcX spun off MySQL AB, a private company that had sole
ownership of the MySQL server source code and trademark, and was responsible for
maintenance, marketing, and further development of the MySQL database server. It
was managed by Michael Widenius, David Axmark, and Allan Larsson, supported by
both a full-time staff and the active support of a worldwide developer community.