Chapter 13. Java

Java is one of the simplest languages in which you can write MySQL applications. Its database access API, Java Database Connectivity (JDBC), is one of the more mature database-independent APIs for database access in common use. Most of what we cover in this chapter can be applied to Oracle, Sybase, MS SQL Server, mSQL, and any other database engine, as well as MySQL. In fact, almost none of the MySQL-specific information in this chapter has anything to do with coding. Instead, the "proprietary" information relates only to downloading MySQL support for JDBC and configuring the runtime environment. Everything else is largely independent of MySQL.

In this chapter, we assume you have a basic understanding of the Java programming language and Java concepts. If you do not already have this background, we strongly recommend taking a look at Learning Java, by Pat Niemeyer and Jonathan Knudsen (O'Reilly). For more details on how to build the sort of three-tier database applications we discussed in Chapter 8, take a look at Database Programming with JDBC and Java, by George Reese (O'Reilly).