Introduction - Learning MySQL - page 4

Why Is MySQL so Popular?
The MySQL development process focuses on offering a very efficient implementation
of the features most people need. This means that MySQL still has fewer features than
its chief open source competitor, PostgreSQL, or the commercial database engines.
Nevertheless, the skills you get from this topic will serve you well on any platform.
Many database management systems—even open source ones—preceded MySQL.
Why has MySQL been the choice for so many beginners and small sites, and now for
some heavyweight database users in government and industry? We can suggest a few
factors:
Size and speed
MySQL can run on very modest hardware and puts very little strain on system
resources; many small users serve up information to their organizations by running
MySQL on modest desktop systems. The speed with which it can retrieve infor-
mation has made it a longstanding favorite of web administrators.
Over the past few years, MySQL AB has addressed the need of larger sites by adding
features that necessarily slow down retrieval, but its modular design lets you ignore
the advanced features and maintain the suppleness and speed for which MySQL
is famous.
Ease of installation
Partly because MySQL is small and fast, it works the way most people want straight
“out of the box.” It can be installed without a lot of difficult and sophisticated
configuration. Now that many Linux distributions include MySQL, installation
can be almost automatic.
This doesn't mean MySQL is free of administrative tasks. In particular, we'll cover
a few things you need to do at the start to tighten security. Very little configuration
is shown in this topic, however, which is a tribute to the database engine's con-
venience and natural qualities.
Attention to standards
As we'll explain in the “Structured Query Language” section later in this chapter,
multiple standards exist in the relational database world, and it's impossible to
claim total conformance. But learning MySQL certainly prepares you for moving
to other database engines. Moving code from one database engine to another is
never trivial, but MySQL does a reasonable job of providing a standard environ-
ment, and gets better as it develops more features.
Responsiveness to community
With a few hundred employees scattered around the globe, MySQL AB is a very
flexible organization that keeps constant tabs on user needs. At its conferences,
lead developers get out in front and make themselves available to everyone with a
gripe or a new idea. There are also local MySQL user groups in almost every major
city. This responsiveness is helped by the fact that MySQL is open and free; any