Аннотация

From “big data” data sets in an enterprise data center to hand-scribbled shopping lists, data is everywhere. Corporations collect as much of it as they can and analyze it to formulate new business strategies. Scientists study data looking for answers that can save lives, improve our environment, and explain our place in the universe.
Even the average person maintains a fair amount of data, from ledgers detailing one’s spending habits to phone numbers in a cellphone’s address book. Storing and organizing all of this this data has become so easy that we often take for granted many of the database concepts and algorithms that make these things possible.
This book is an introduction to the basic concepts of working with a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS)—specifically, the popular, open source RDBMS MySQL. Like other installments in SitePoint’s Jump Start series, it aims to give you a head start in your understanding of the chosen technology. You’ll learn the basics quickly, in a friendly, (hopefully) pain-free way, and have a solid foundation to continue on in your learning.
I’m very grateful to have been given the opportunity to write this book. What separ-ates it from others in the lineup is that it discusses a technology widely used both within and outside the world of web development. That’s not to say MySQL isn’t popular with developers creating web-based applications—quite the contrary! But databases are used in many other areas as well and I've tried to capture this in my selection of topics.