MySQL Article

Introduction

MySQL is a free, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", (the co-founders daughter) and "SQL" the abbreviation for Stuctured Query Language.

MySQL was co-founded by Michael Widenius and the rest of the MySQL AB team in 1995.

MySQL is now owned by the Oracle Corporation and is used by many popular websites such as Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and YouTube.

Features

MySQL has many features, these include:

Cross-platform support
Triggers and Cursors
Updatable Views
Online Data Definition Language (DDL) when using the InnoDB Storage Engine
SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Support
Query Caching
Sub-SELECTs (nested SELECTs)
Full-text indexing and searching
Commit grouping, gathering multiple transactions from multiple connections together to increase the number of commits per second.
Shared nothing clustering through MySQL Cluster

Pros/Cons

MySQL has its pros and cons:

Pros	Cons
MySQL is designed with a focus on the Web, Cloud and Big Data - Global Transaction Identifiers (GITDs) make it simple to track and compare replication progress between the master and slave servers, as well as the MySQL Applier for Hadoop.	MySQL is not as mature as other RDBMes - MySQL did not start out as an RDBMS, but later changed direction to encompass more functionality. Close source options, like Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server, are also alternatives to consider.
MySQL products remain solid - Open-source advocates complain that new code in MySQL doesn't have test cases and that some of the enterprise features are closed source. Still, MySQL was well-received as a solid, well-performing product with a number of new features. Oracle spent two years releasing Development Milestone Releases (DMR) to the MySQL Community for testing and feedback.	MySQL is open source (kind of) - Technically, MySQL is an open-source database, but in practice, it not longer feels like it. Under Oracle's umbrella, MySQL now has proprietary, closed-source modules. Oracle's alleged foot-dragging on development and refusal to release test cases for bugs and security patches is causing many open source developers to head for the hills.
There are more MySQL projects than before - MySQL teams can now work a greater variety of projects such as clustering software, manageability, database algorithm optimization, replication and scalability.	MySQL is Oracle-owned instead of community driven - MySQL hasn't changed direction dramatically since it was acquired by Oracle, but Oracle still owns it, which makes some developers nervous. Why? Oracle does not accept patches or provide a public roadmap.
There is more MySQL investment and innovation than ever before - Since the takeover, Oracle has increased the MySQL staff and given it a more mature engineering process where engineering and planning is driven from Oracle instead of people scattered across the world. MySQL uses InnoDB as its major storage engine. InnoDB is also part of the Oracle family, which makes development teams even more integrated. The company is also making the code more modular.	Big names are jumping ship - Red Had Enterprise Linux, Fedora, Slackware Linux, openSUSE, and the Wikimedia Foundation have all migrated to MariaDB. MySQL still has some great things going for it. Let's look at a few of them in more detail.

Extra Programs

SQL Databases (RDBMS) - PostgreSQL, Openbase, MariaDB
no-SQL Databases - MongoDB, ArangoDB
Back-End Development - Package managers, Node.js
Text Editors - Notepad++, Visual Studio Code
Other - Database Architecture, Schemas, Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs)

Sources

Summary

In conclusion:

If you have a passion for developing databases in the back-end whilst developing applications, then MySQL is a good bet, it is lightweight and is connected to big companies like Oracle, it is also free and open-source and easy to use. MariaDB however, is a good alternative if you need to use a RDBMs but don't want to use Oracle's products. MongoDB is another alternative if you want to use a no-SQL database. Different programs give different solutions, so pick which one is good for you.