PHP is a complex program used on websites to create forms, perform mathematical functions, calculations,
and extract information from a database, hence SQL. The program is used in search engine websites to
customize information particular to the person conducting the search. It reads data from a database (MySQL)
and delivers the information to the user. It's not worth going into the reason behind the name.
It's beyond the scope of Cary Resources' mission.
Example of an area of a website that uses "PHP" to create a contact form that collects information"
from users of the site. PHP requires a great deal of complex code from what appears to be a simple form.
(a screen shot below from the site):
Go to:Contact Form
SQL is a language that facilitates the collection of data that can then be added to, deleted, sorted, and manipulated
to extract the proper information. Like PHP it must be handled through the webserver and not on a local computer
as HTML CSS, & Javascript. The commands in MySQL are very self-evident and fairly easy to use and write, once
you understand where to start and how to navigate throughout the webserver. The commands are normally short
and non-technical in nature.
Included below are screenshots of an actual MySQL database with several different tables. Within each
table of a database is generally a body of information that can be added, deleted, altered etc. depending on
what information the user of the website is looking for.
This first screenshot is the database itself with numerous tables.
This second screenshot is a table from the database, called "customers."
