Is MySQL Programming Language?
MySQL is an open source database management system which is being used to manage database systems, retrieving data from database tables etc. Many people might have a question about whether MySQL is a programming language? In my view, it is server-side software to manage database systems. SQL is a structured query language which is an ANSI standard and implemented by most of the database systems. SQL is a type of programming language which is used for manipulating data in the database. Whereas MySQL implements the SQL language with additional features which are not in standard and standard version features with variations and modifications.
Let us see exactly is MySQL a programming language or not, main features of MySQL and history of MySQL as below:
What is MySQL?
- MySQL is a database management system: A database is a collection of data which is arranged in a structured manner. We can able to add, delete, modify and process the data stored in the computer database with the help of a database management system such as MySQL server etc. Using database management systems we can able to control and process a large amount of data with help of a computer.
- MySQL databases are relational: Relational database is a database in which data is stored in different tables instead of storing in the same storage. These tables are related logically by a logical model such as databases, tables, rows, columns, views etc. By using these relations we can able to access the data from the database. We use SQL (structured query language) to query the database and it is most commonly used language to access the database.
- MySQL is open source: MySQL database management system is open source software. We can modify the software and redistribute and can use for free of cost. We can also have a licensed version of MySQL by which can get premium support and some premium features support. So based on our business needs we can decide to use either the free version or paid version of the software.
- MySQL is reliable, fast and scalable: MySQL database management system is very fast and we can able to run on desktop, laptop, server, along with other applications. If we installed it on a dedicated machine then we can achieve more from MySQL by taking advantage of CPU and I/O capabilities. It is scalable to cluster of machines, machines connected through network etc. MySQL is developed to handle too large amounts of data in databases efficiently and faster than existing solutions with different types of features and become as most popular and demanding software in the market.
- MySQL can be used in Client/Server or Embedded Environment: MySQL database management system software can be used in any client/server/embedded systems which support multiple applications, programs, libraries, multithreaded SQL server which supports different software and a wide range of APIs for application programming. MySQL can be provided as a multithreaded library which can be linked to any application and use which will be fast and easy to use as a product.
The Main Features of MySQL
- Data Types: MySQL supports different data types some of them are assigned and unsigned integers, FLOAT, DOUBLE, CHAR, VARCHAR, BINARY, TEXT, BLOB, DATE, TIME, DATETIME, YEAR, SET, ENUM, Geospatial types, fixed and variable strings.
- Portability and Internal Functionality: MySQL is developed in C and C++ programming languages with testing on a broad range of compilers. MySQL works and supports on different types of programming language platforms. It was designed to support multithreaded kernels with multi-layered server design to use multiple CPUs. It able to perform joins very fast using optimization, and have separate storage for transactional and non-transactional. Internally uses hash tables which will be used as temporary tables.
- Functionality support: MySQL supports Function and Full operator in SELECT and where clause of the query. It supports left outer join and right outer join with basic syntax and ODBC syntax. It supports aliases for tables and columns as per standard SQL. It supports curd operations like Insert, Delete, Replace, and update statements which returns the number of rows updated, inserted and deletes the rows which match the condition.
- Connectivity: Anyone can connect to MySQL database management system using different types of protocols such as TCP/IP sockets, using name pipes with enable-named-pipe, and using shared memory connection with enable-shared-memory and using UNIX domain sockets on Linux systems. MySQL clients can write programs in many languages as it has libraries support for different programming languages. Using connector / J interface Java client programs can connect to MySQL and perform operations.
- Security: MySQL handles security by password mechanism and privileges which is simple, fast and secure for host-based verification. It handles security by password encryption for all passwords when we connect to the server.
- Scalability: MySQL supports very large databases, for example, we can have a server on which MySQL hosted and handles 50 million records, servers having 2lakh tables with 5 million records. It supports up to 64 indexes per table where the column can vary from 1 to 16 columns per table.
History of MySQL
MySQL was initially designed to connect to the tables using own fast low-level routines but turned to be a flop as they didn’t get desired results which result in new SQL interface called MySQL with similar interfaces of mSQL and has a capability to port third-party code for MySQL. It was named after cofounder’s daughter name “My”. The name of MySQL dolphin is “sakila” and was decide through a contest called “Name the dolphin”.
Conclusion – Is MySQL Programming Language?
Finally, it’s an overview about MySQL and it is not a programming language rather it is software used for the database management system. I hope you will have a good understanding about MySQL after reading this Is MySQL Programming Language article as we have discussed in detail about its support for different programming languages, providing libraries for different clients, security, scalability, functionality support, internal development and implementing all features in standard SQL programming language and additional features which are not supported in standard SQL.
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