What is MySQL?

MySQL is one of the most popular relational database management systems (RDBMS). It is open source and available under the terms of the GNU General Public License, which means that you can download, run, share and even modify MySQL for free. MySQL is a popular choice of database for web applications, and is a component of the widely used LAMP open-source web application stack.

A relational database management systems (RDBMS) is a database management system (DBMS) based on the relational database model. MySQL is a fast and easy-to-use RDBMS and is used by many web applications such as WordPress, phpBB, Joomla!, Drupal, etc.

MySQL uses a standard form of the well-known SQL data language. SQL stands for Structured Query Language and it is a special-purpose programming language designed for managing data held in a relational database management system. Many other RDBMSs use SQL as well, such as Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. SQL syntax is loosely based on English and looks like this:

SELECT name FROM customers WHERE city = 'Berlin';

MySQL is available on many operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS X, and FreeBSD. It can be accessed and administer via the command line or a GUI.