/ˌmaɪ-ˈɛs-kjuː-ˈɛl/
n. “The database that made the web practical.”
MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) used to store, organize, and retrieve structured data using SQL (Structured Query Language). It is widely deployed across web applications, content management systems, and enterprise systems due to its speed, reliability, and ease of use.
MySQL organizes data into tables of rows and columns, enforces relationships and constraints, and allows applications to perform queries, updates, and transactions efficiently. It supports multiple storage engines, with InnoDB being the default for its support of ACID transactions, foreign keys, and crash recovery.
One of MySQL’s main strengths is its versatility. It powers small websites as easily as high-traffic platforms, integrates with programming languages like PHP, Python, and Java, and works seamlessly in LAMP and other web stacks.
Here’s a simple example demonstrating how to use MySQL to create a table, insert data, and retrieve it:
CREATE TABLE users (
id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
username VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
);
INSERT INTO users (username)
VALUES ('Alice');
SELECT username, created_at
FROM users
WHERE username = 'Alice'; This snippet illustrates basic MySQL operations: defining a table, inserting records, and querying data with standard SQL. It highlights MySQL’s simplicity and accessibility for developers.
In practice, MySQL serves as both a system of record and a backend for analytics and reporting workflows. Data can be exported in formats like CSV, fed into ETL pipelines, or integrated with cloud platforms such as GCP and AWS.
MySQL is valued for its balance of speed, reliability, and ease of administration, making it a go-to database for startups, enterprises, and open-source projects alike.