Database
MySQL is a lightweight and fast relational database management system (or RDBMS). In order to make it lightweight it does not contain all the advanced features that might appear in a large scale RDBMS such as Oracle or Microsoft SQL Server. MySQL does support the SQL2 standard and is popular for use in robust web applications.

Sites that contain copies of MySQL source code and binaries
Area Name URL
Worldwide MySQL AB http://www.mysql.com
UK PliG/UK http://ftp.plig.org/pub/mysql
UK PliG/UK ftp://ftp.plig.org/pub/mysql


A little bit about PHP
A useful addition to MySQL is PHP. PHP is a scripting language which is popularly used in creating dynamic web pages from data in MySQL databases. The name PHP is an abbreviation of Hypertext Preprocessor
Where can I get PHP from?
http://www.php.net/

MySQL may be downloaded from any of the sites listed above. I can recommend an excellent O'Reilly book entitled "MySQL & mSQL" by Randy Jay Yarger, George Reese and Tim King published in July 1999; ISBN 1-56592-434-7

MySQL supports programming in C, Perl, Java and Python.