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About MySQL
    MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is arguably the most widely
    used server for the popular querying language SQL. It was developed by Micheal Widenius.
    Essentially what MySQL does is establish a database and then functions under a client-server interaction.
    A programmer/analyst can type in commands to the database, most formally known as “statements” that
    will do something to call the data in full or in the specifically chosen parts, and it will appear on the
    client-side.
    Being a server-based service, it does cost quite a bit to host the data if you are a company,
    but some functionalities are available for free, with varying degrees of limitations.

    


        MySQL is very useful for business intelligence professionals that handle large groups of sometimes messy
        data recorded in real-time. This is why the enterprise versions exist and they are still as relevant
        as when they were first released in May of 1995. Nevertheless, MySQL has applications in e-commerce
        recording sales information, and also some tracking of visitors, which allows a smart programmer/analyst
        to extract immense value from a very basic version of MySQL. As you might infer, MySQL also has applications
        in the more academic data analysis field, and there are even online courses by prominent universities
        that teach people how to use MySQL for these purposes.

        

        MySQL is used by very technologically-driven, data-heavy companies like UBER or Airbnb, which goes
        to show how reliable and powerful the enterprise features are. Some of these features include scalability
        of speed and size on demand, which is a crucial thing to have in a rapidly evolving environment.
        It runs 24x7, which is important when working across different time zones.
        Also, the security of MySQL is very advanced, meaning that many companies prefer to use it for safety reasons.
        MySQL is also optimized for extremely fast performance, even when gathering millions of queries a day from busy
        websites
        (like UBER or Airbnb as we discussed), it can rapidly process and clean data for analysts to interpret
        and generate valuable information from.

        

        MySQL has a very notable fork, developed by the same person, Micheal Widenius, called MariaDB.
        If you would like to explore some differences between MariaDB and MySQL, check out the article
        we wrote on this technology.