Lesson 1 / 30
What is a Relational Database?
Understand relational databases, tables, rows and keys, and where MySQL fits as an open-source RDBMS.
Rows, columns, tables
A relational database stores data in tables made of rows (records) and columns (fields). Tables relate to each other through shared keys.
Where MySQL fits
MySQL is a free, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS) — it stores data and understands SQL, the language used to query it.
Like a set of spreadsheets
Think of a database as a workbook and each table as a sheet — but sheets can reference rows in other sheets instead of duplicating data.