The Perl DBI is a perl module that allows Perl users to interact with different types of databases through a single API. DBI means Database Independent, we can use this to talk to a MySQL database, an Oracle database and many more. The point of this module is, say with PHP we wish to use MySQL.. we would use the function mysql_connect(), a MySQL-dependent function. With the perl DBI we can use the same functions and objects to access many types of database, this makes code much more portable, and it makes it much easier.

This article was developed in a Linux environment with MySQL 3.22; because we're beginning with the basics, most of the details should apply to MySQL in any Unix environment, and probably even MySQL in Windows. MySQL is not a subject that computer novices are likely to take up on a holiday weekend, so we necessarily assume certain background experience, including basic Perl, Unix/Linux, and databases in general.To best understand MySQL we should start from above, like surveying a cityscape from a helicopter. MySQL operates on a client-server model, not unlike many other network applications. The MySQL server is the Grand Central Station for the city of MySQL -- the server handles incoming and outgoing traffic to and from a database. Any machine which you wish to process queries of a MySQL database must be running the MySQL server; in other words, Grand Central Station must be open for business for any traffic to arrive or depart.

In this tutorial you will learn how to set up a guestbook using a perl and a MySQL backend. In this age of the full-service internet, the demand for bigger and badder websites will only increase. To meet the demands of these full-service websites, the SQL database servers come into play. One of the more popular SQL servers available for download on the internet is MySQL. MySQL is not released under a full GPL free license, but for some applications, like intranets, it is free to use.

You've all heard of a Poor Man's Copyright: when you come up with a great idea and you send it to yourself in the mail to prove it was your idea. Getting a real copyright can be a pain, and sometimes isn't worth the effort. A poor man's copyright doesn't have all of the benefits of a "real" one, but for the small stuff - it usually gets the job done.When designing a website, the same sort of problem can arise, you have a project that needs a database setup, but you either don't have the money for a database package, or it's such a small database, that using a commercial package isn't worth the trouble.

For those who don't want to get tied up with a relational database and all the supporting software needed, yet still need to store a dataset to disk for future use, this tutorial provides several Perl DBM, or database management, solutions which have much less overheard than DBI and are a quick way to store and use Perl data structures to and from disk.

Perl and MySQL can be used together.... so why can't Perl and mSQL be together as well? Well, they can... using the same Perl module as well. Check out what you can and can't do with it here.