This is a great article on how to begin working with MySQL! Great work!

One thing I’ve never seen in a beginner article is proper database selection and creating applications that run on many different databases. Invariably, someone wanting to pick up web development will just start reading about PHP + MySQL and think it’s the perfect solution for their next big thing. Then, when their project grows enough for other people to begin working on it, there is so much MySQL-specific stuff in the app that it’s impossible to port to different databases.

I also noted in one of your other tutorials that you’re using payroll information as an example. One of the biggest mistakes that database newbies make is assuming that MySQL is acceptable for mission-critical data. MySQL is great for websites and other things where reliability doesn’t matter, but there are far too many ways by which MySQL silently fails (or eats data) to trust it for accounting and payroll type data.

To make it even easier for beginner I suggest they use phpmyadmin http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/index.php

it will even show u the query after u execute it.

But honestly, I enjoy doing it from the command line!
Well-done!

Husain