When I wrote MySQL for New Riders a year and a half ago, I wondered whether it would receive much of a response, because it wasn’t apparent whether the MySQL community was very sizable. I should have known better! MySQL is a very good database, it’s easy to use, it’s fast, and it’s free—all characteristics that help make it deservedly more popular each day. And it’s clear now that its users are interested in reading more about it. Consequently, after publishing MySQL, the folks at New Riders began to consider how the database community could be served by another MySQL-based title. As we discussed ideas, one that quickly came to mind was the need for substantial coverage on the topic of using MySQL in tandem with Perl and its DBI module for writing Web-based database scripts. This combination is quite widely used, but, oddly enough, only sporadically documented. The result? Many people who see how popular MySQL and Perl are in Web environments decide to try them out, but find themselves without a source that deals at length specifically with these tools.

This book changes that. It contains extensive practical material that will enable you to use MySQL and Perl to bring your Web site to life. It helps you write applications that interact with your visitors and applications that provide dynamic content, freeing you from being tied to static pages that must be updated by hand. The approach used here is based on the belief that learning from examples is one of the most effective ways to gain knowledge and experience. You’ll find functional applications that you can modify to suit your own purposes. What you won’t find is page after page of program listings with little explanation of what’s going on. Examples are more meaningful when you understand them, so each application is fully described so that you know not only what it does, but also how and why.