MySQL is a database management system which allows you to store and manage data. It is open-source and widely used. PHP and MySQL are commonly used together, and their popularly is largely tied to each other.

A database management system that supports the storing, organizing and retrieval of data. MySQL is based around the Structured Query Language (SQL), which allows for powerful querying of data stored with a database. MySQL is flexible, powerful and scalable, making it suitable for almost any use.

Databases are used on any site that stores information. For example, WordPress using a database (MySQL, to be exact) to store data such as posts, comments, users, etc. While databases are great for storing text-based data, you can’t store something like an image or file.

Basically, if you need to store data that you’ll need to query, and retrieve, using a database is a good idea. Over the next few articles, we’ll be discussing MySQL and the integration with PHP.