MySQL is one of the most popular database management systems available, powering everything from Internet powerhouses to individual corporate databases to simple end-user applications, and everything in between. And this book will teach you all you need to know to be immediately productive with MySQL. By working through 30 highly focused hands-on lessons, your MySQL Crash Course will be both easier and more effective than you'd have thought possible. The fact that you are reading this book indicates that you, somehow, need to interact with databases, and MySQL specifically. And so, before diving into MySQL and its implementation of the SQL language, it is important that you understand some basic concepts about databases and database technologies. Whether you are aware of it or not, you use databases all the time. Each time you select a name from your email address book, you are using a database. When you browse contacts on your phone, you are using a database. If you conduct a search on an Internet search site, you are using a database.