Chapter 1: Background Concepts
In this chapter, you will gain an understanding of the basic types of databases and how people tend to use them. You will learn how MySQL implements specific concepts such as database structures, layers, organization, and what its architecture looks like. You will explore what a relational database management system such as MySQL is, and how it differs from a standard database management system. You will also learn about data normalization and data modeling.
By the end of this chapter, you will have a good overview of what a database is and its different components. You will also learn what makes MySQL special and how it fits into this ecosystem.
This chapter covers the following topics:
- Introducing databases
- Exploring MySQL
- Exercise 1.01: Organizing data in a relational format
- Exploring MySQL architecture
- Storage engines (InnoDB and MyRocks)
- Data modeling
- Normalization
- Activity 1.01: Creating an optimized table for an employee project