At what point should I learn about mysql? I have already done a bit of simple file I/O, and now a bit about classes and objects.

"Judge a man by his questions, not by his answers."
-Voltaire
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\"Judge a man by his questions, not by his answers.\"
-Voltaire

Hi,

Its not about learning mySQL in particular but more about understanding SQL as database language. SQL is used when you are working with databases. MySQL is just one of the companies that have their own database software. One of the advantages is the MySQL is that it's free to download.

SQL is something which every programmer and webdeveloper should have knowledge about.

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Another (more important one IMO) is that it is Free as in "freedom" - you can see the source code, change it, and share it cf. http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html

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well, basically, and in my opinion it only depends on the questions that your applications will need to ask to your data: As long as it is "Give me a list of..." then simple text files are way enough. When your question will evolve to: "What invoices belong to this specific client?" or "Tell me ne name of clients that owe me money", then yes, learn about MySql...

Resuming, when 2 or more entities are part of the question (client/invoices, client/accounts in the examples), then you should use relational, meaning, a database.

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MySQL is easy. I learned it with PHP (although I learn more all hte time), it's pretty simple, I recommend http://www.w3schools.com . They have great tutorials, learned most web stuff from them.