What do I use MySQL for?

[tharden3]

I'm building a website. Within the website I'm going to have to keep track of hundreds of products, like an online catalog. Can I use MySQL to manage this for me?

I'm only familiar with HTML and CSS, so I can make static sites, but lately I have been asked to build sites with functionality, and here is where I'm really hurting. I know a bit of Python programming (but not enough to use it for anything significant), and when I venture beyond static websites, I'm getting a little lost.

The two items I really need to include are a mailer (something where they can click a "contact us" button, and it allows them to fill out a form), and the database of products. I was hoping I could put product info. into a database, and then I might take that database and represent each piece of information the same way a hundred times over (like Amazon.com or Bestbuy.com)

I'm really against automatic website builders, and have been writing all the code by hand. I've learned so much doing it this way, and I'd like to continue writing it by hand. So my question is: Can I use MySQL to handle all of my products?

[Niheel]

Yes you can use mysql as your database.

The most common stack(group of technologies) for what you are trying to do is LAMP.

Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP

PHP = the language to code in, it has lots of built in mysql functions for you to use and there is tons of tutorials and documentations online, it also has built in mailing functions.
Apache = web server
Linux = OS, though you can even host this on your windows machine
MySQL = database

Give it a shot. You can also use Python as the replacement language.

[tharden3]

@KUB365
ok, thanks for the help. I will look into this.

[tharden3]

I've looked around Amazon, among other sites, and have been searching for a book to teach me LAMP. Any suggestions on this? They have plenty of them all over the palce, I just want to know that I'm getting a good book.