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Using Databases

In the early days of the Internet, pages were built using HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) and apart from a few elements, were very static. As the technology grew, other uses were identified and users sought to display information online that was stored in databases. Database-driven sites are now more prevalent than static HTML sites, providing a more dynamic experience on the web.

There are many different database engines available to use - MySQL, MS SQL Server, Postgre SQL, Oracle, Informix, DBase, SyBase and SQLite are just some of them.

The MySQL database is one the world's most popular open source database because of its consistent fast performance, high reliability and ease of use and it's also become the database of choice for a new generation of applications built on the LAMP stack (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP / Perl / Python.) MySQL runs on more than 20 platforms including Linux, Windows, OS/X, HP-UX, AIX, Netware, giving you the kind of flexibility that puts you in control.

Every product has a certain life expectancy and MySQL exists in several versions, each with its own support life cycle.

Here is the Lifecycle Calendar for MySQL:

MySQL Database Server	GA Date	Active Support Ends	Extended Support Ends
3.23	2001-01-17	2006-07-31	2006-12-31
4.0	2003-03-15	2006-09-30	2008-12-31
4.1	2004-10-23	2006-12-31	2009-12-31
5.0	2005-10-24	2008-12-31	2011-12-31

Last modified on 2008/6/15 by Steve