If you're a programmer new to databases--or just new to MySQL and its community-driven variant, MariaDB--you've found the perfect introduction. This hands-on guide provides an easy, step-by-step approach to installing, using, and maintaining these popular relational database engines.

Author Russell Dyer, Curriculum Manager at MariaDB and former editor of the MySQL Knowledge Base, takes you through database design and the basics of data management and manipulation, using real-world examples and many practical tips. Exercises and review questions help you practice what you've just learned.

• Create and alter MySQL tables and specify fields and columns within them
• Learn how to insert, select, update, delete, join, and subquery data, using practical examples
• Use built-in string functions to find, extract, format, and convert text from columns
• Learn functions for mathematical or statistical calculations, and for formatting date and time values
• Perform administrative duties such as managing user accounts, backing up databases, and importing large amounts of data
• Use APIs to connect and query MySQL and MariaDB with PHP and other languages

Russell Dyer is a freelance writer specializing in MySQL database software and is the editor of the MySQL Knowledge Base (http: //www.mysql.com/network/knowledgeba​se.html). He is the author of MySQL in a Nutshell (http: //www.oreilly.com/catalog/mysqlian/) and has writen articles for several magazines: Dev Zone (a MySQL publication), Linux Journal, ONlamp.com, The Perl Journal, Red Hat Magazine, SysAdmin Magazine, Tech Republic, Unix Review, and XML.com. He has also finished his first novel, In Search of Kafka. More information on Russell, along with a list of his published articles with links to them, can be found on his web site at http: //russell.dyerhouse.com