What is MySQL

March 22, 2022 By Mark Otto Off

MySQL: What is it?

MySQL is an open-source relational database management system that allows you to manage relational databases based on Structured Query Language (SQL) queries. It supports multiple platforms such as Windows, Ubuntu, Linux, macOS, etc. It was developed by Swedish company MySQL AB in 1994, which was acquired in 2008 by American tech company Sun Microsystems. Afterwards, in 2010 the American giant Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems, and since then MySQL de-facto belongs to Oracle.

The database is a structured set of data, for example, a straightforward shopping list or places to store massive quantities of information throughout a business network. The relational database is a digital repository that collects data and organizes it according to a relational model, where tables consist of rows and columns and the relationships between data items follow a strict logical structure. MySQL is a simple software toolkit we can use to perform, manage, and execute queries on such a database.

Why use MySQL?

MySQL is the most popular RDBMS, let’s look at why this is like that:

Easy-to-use. The only thing you should learn before using MySQL is a basic knowledge of SQL (Structured Query Language).
Open-source. Virtually anyone can install, modify, and use MySQL because of its incredible ease of use. The source code uses the GPL, that is, the GNU General Public License, which specifies guidelines for what you can and can’t do with this application.
High Productivity. MySQL is possibly the fastest database language, according to a multitude of standard tests.
Scalability. MySQL supports multi-threading, meaning the ability of systems to easily operate on small and large quantities of data, clusters of machines, etc.
Security. MySQL is composed of a strong security level of data that protects confidential data from attackers. The interface is also secure because it has a versatile password system and guarantees host-based validation before accessing the database.
Multiple data types. MySQL contains many data types, like integers, float, double, char, varchar, text, blob, date, time, DateTime, timestamp, etc.
Community. The community is very large, so if you get stuck anywhere then you can get help from the community.
Client-Server Architecture. MySQL is a client-server based architecture and accessible from anywhere through networking, i.e. each machine communicates with the server via an Internet connection. The server handles requests from the client and returns the result to the client machine. Clients can send queries to remote servers using an Internet connection, but the main requirement is keeping the server active at the time.

Who uses MySQL

MySQL is the most popular and useful database system, the largest and most important companies are probably choosing it such as:

Using the Flatlogic Platform you can also generate an application with a MySQL database system.

How to create your app with Flatlogic Platform

Step 1. Choosing the Tech Stack

In this step, you’re setting the name of your application and choosing the stack: Frontend, Backend, and Database.

What is MySQL: creating MySQL apps with Flatlogic Platform

Step 2. Choosing the Starter Template

In this step, you’re choosing the design of the web app.

Step 3. Schema Editor

In this part you will need to know which application you want to build, that is, CRM or E-commerce, also in this part you build a database schema i.e. tables and relationships between them.

If you are not familiar with database design and it is difficult for you to understand what tables are, we have prepared several ready-made example schemas of real-world apps that you can build your app upon modification:

E-commerce app;
Time tracking app;
Books store;
Chat (messaging) app;
Blog.

Like all databases in MySQL, there are such types of table relationships as relation_one, relation_many. You can enforce the relationships by defining the right foreign key constraints on the columns.

Relation (one) – one-sided relation capable of storing one or another entity, for example, Employee: [{ name: ‘John’}].
Relation (many) – two-sided relation capable of storing any number of other entities, for example, Employee: [{ name: ‘John’ }, { name: ‘Joe’ }].