Head First SQL

Appendix B. MySQL Installation: Try it out for yourself

All your new SQL skills won’t do you much good without a place to apply them. This appendix contains instructions for installing your very own MySQL RDBMS for you to work with.

Get started, fast!

Because it’s no fun to have a book on SQL without being able to try it out for yourself, here’s a brief introduction to installing MySQL on Windows and Mac OS X.

NOTE: This section covers Windows 2000, XP, or Windows Server 2003, or other 32-bit Windows operating system. For Mac, it applies to Mac OS X 10.3.x or newer.

We’ll take you through the downloading and installing of MySQL. The official name for the free version of the MySQL RDBMS server these days is MySQL Community Server.

Instructions and Troubleshooting

The following is a list of steps for installing MySQL on Windows and Mac OS X. This is not meant to replace the excellent instructions found on the MySQL web site, and we strongly encourage you to go there and read them! For much more detailed directions, as well as a troubleshooting guide, go here:

You’ll also like the MySQL Query Browser we talked about in #1. Get a GUI for your RDBMS. There, you can type your queries and see the results inside the software interface, rather than in a console window.

Steps to Install MySQL ...