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→What is a Database?
== What is a Database? ==
The chances are that if you have ever logged into a web site or purchased an item on the internet you have interacted with a database in some way. Anything that involves the retreval retrieval or storage of information on a computer system is most likely to involve a database. In fact, databases are the core of just about every application that relies on data of some form to complete a task.
The first step in learning MySQL is to understand the difference between a ''database'' and a ''database management system (DBMS)''. The term ''database'' refers to the entity which stores the actual data (such as ID numbers, names and address for example) in a structured way. A ''database management system (DBMS)'' on the other hand, refers to the software used to store, access and manipulate the data stored in the ''database''. All interactions with the database are always performed via the ''DBMS''.