Journal #7 - Web Technologies

                Originally developed by Micheal Widenious and David Axmark in 1994 and released on 23 May 1995, MySQL is now the world's most popular open source database.  The official pronunciation is My S-Q-L but a lot of web developers pronounce it My Sequel.  Many of the world's largest and fastest-growing organizations including Facebook, Google, Adobe, Alcatel Lucent, and Zappos rely on MySQL to save time and money powering their high-volume web sites, business-critical systems and packaged software.  MySQL is a relational database management system (RDBMS), and ships with no GUI tools to administer databases or manage data contained within the databases.  Users can use the command line tools or download the official front end tool MySQL workbench which is actively developed by Oracle.  Another popular front end tool that I personally find easier to use than MySQL workbench is phpMyAdmin.

                If a web site has an option to login and personalize your web experience, most likely it is using MySQL to administer a database where your user information is stored.  Most web sites you visit on the Internet are being hosted on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) servers because everything involved to set up this type of server is free and open source which makes it easy for web developers to find help and support when they need it.  I run a LAMP server on my Raspberry Pi and use phpMyAdmin to administer MySQL databases, and I installed ddclient so the public can find the dynamic IP address of my web server at http://braineurysm.flashserv.net.  ddclient is a script that updates a DNS server with the dynamic IP address of the machine every 600 seconds so when my web server's IP address changes the public can still find my web site at the same domain name.  Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin, and ddclient are all free and open source and has made the process of setting up a web server cost me nothing. All I spent was time.

                Free and open source are the two main reasons why web sites are popping up everywhere across the Internet.  The world has set their eyes on the Internet with Manifest Destiny in mind.  Average Joe can find a tutorial video on Youtube that gives step-by-step instructions on how to install and set up a LAMP server on their machine, and for $35 they can buy a Raspberry Pi to run the web server on a separate machine.  With a few command lines and a few tweaks on the router they can have a web site online with just about anything.  A new social network is born?  A new business store front?  A new browser-based game? The possibilities are endless.  PHP will handle all the server side scripting and MySQL will manage all the databases.  Who knows, Average Joe can be the next Mark Zuckerberg.