I've googled them, gone to their sites, downloaded them, and I can safely say, I still have NO IDEA what they do. I know wordpress gives you templates for sites and stuff, but thats about it. And I didn't understand ANYTHING on MySQL. I know they're very important for any web developer...so could someone please give me, some quick summary on each one? and give me some basic instructions on their use? Thanks in advance
I got that far by myself lol... I'll talk about mysql first: I've read their "about us", what exactly is an "open source database"? And when I downloaded mysql, it all looked like jibberish. Any chance for a more verbal "even retarded monkeys can understand" explanation?
Ok, here's one for the retarded monkey. lol. Wordpress is a program that makes it stupid easy to run a blog. Basically, you set it up on your server (if you have cpanel, it can be done for you) and you just type your stuff and hit publish, and magically it becomes a blog post. You should get a free account at wordpress.com to learn how it works. As for MySQL, it's a bit different. It is basically a database (where all of the information in and about your blog is kept). 'Open Source' means that any programmer who wants to make changes to the coding of the database can have free access to the source code (unlike commercial products like MS Access). That's about as basic as it can get, but I'd really recommend getting that wordpress.com account to learn the ins and outs of wordpress. It will help you understand a lot.
It's not a bit different, it's totally different. mySQL has nothing directly to do with blogs. It isn't 'basically' a database, it IS a database Or orders for retail stores or any kind of data storage. Blogs are almost insignificant compared to most of its usage. All blogs could go away today and databases would still be used in abundance.
Yeah, I was responding to his question in regard to 'blogs', since he was asking about wordpress. And I use 'basically' because I'm giving a 'basic' explanation. It's a bad habit, I'll admit. Basically, mySQL IS a database. And you are right, they are two totally separate beasts. My, aren't we picky? heh. I just hope it helped explain the stuff.
Okay, here's the best I've got. MySQL: database. Think of this like a file cabinet that you store loose information in. Once the information is in the database, you need a language like PHP to retrieve the information, sort it, and present it in a way that the web browser will read. Wordpress: a Content Management System What Wordpress does, is allow you to easily make websites. It uses a MySQL database to store it's information in, and it is the set of PHP scripts that goes between the database and the website the way it's shown. Because it's a CMS (content management system) it allows you to swap out themes and rearrange the way it presents the website, without changing the content.....which makes it versatile, flexible and very very powerful. I just bought another domain yesterday and the first thing I did to it was install wordpress 2.7 If you have your own hosting already, you should see if they can install it for you, I know my latest host GoDaddy has a 1-click-install which really was that simple, and my other hosting DigitalOrphan I had to do it all myself, which wasn't so bad either if you follow the instructions. Good luck to you, once you get Wordpress installed it's very easy to manage - I daresay installing it (although not hard) is the hardest and it only gets easier from there. Luckily for you wordpress is the most widely used blogging software and so there are TONS of tutorials and video tutorials to help you out! Good luck, see you on the other side!