providencia has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

I am looking for some kind of tutorial that covers using DBI as it relates to MySQL(unix).
I would really love to find a step-by-step tutorial.
That way I can pick it up and leave it while I work without too
much worrying about breaking my concentration.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perl/DBI (MySQL) tutorial
by perlcgi (Hermit) on May 17, 2000 at 12:13 UTC
    I'm getting to grips with DBI too. IMHO, DBI is not particularly difficult, but if like me, you have to do a MySQL install and database administration, as well as coding your app - well than can make things more complicated and time-consuming than using your standard module. So unless MySQL is setup for you, I recommend relaxing with the O'Reilly MySQL and mSQL. It's really useful from a MySQL point of view, which IMHO is half the battle.
    As to DBI, I found another O'Reilly Programming the Perl DBI useful. It does take about 3 chapters to get to discuss DBI (the first few chapters are a general introducion to not-relational database persistance in Perl, which, while off-the-point, are pretty useful in themselves. I'm biased 'cos I love books - also Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce deserve all the book-royalties they can get for providing such a wonderful module.
      I seem to recall that Programming the Perl DBI uses MySQL in quite a few examples. I've found it to be quite a good book. There's an appendix which provides specific information about a number of programs (including MySQL).
Re: Perl/DBI (MySQL) tutorial
by princepawn (Parson) on May 17, 2000 at 16:59 UTC
    I disagree. DBI does not provide an application-level interface to databases. It provides a somewhat database-independent interface to databases, but this is not the same as an application-level interface to databses. Furthermore, the interface is not entirely database independent. First, the generated SQL is not database independent. With an extension of DBI, DBIx::Recordset, it is database independent. For a five-page critique of DBI, see my submission to the Perl Journal: http://lnc.usc.edu/~brannon/consulting/dbix.html
        I see what you mean... Try using Opera! It has a nifty little zoom percentage box that works very well. 150% magnification worked great here.

        Great article btw!
        It has not been accepted yet --- I can email you a word version if you wish.
Re: Perl/DBI (MySQL) tutorial
by merlyn (Sage) on May 17, 2000 at 19:52 UTC
      The MySQL book from the same publisher is good, too
      It is not a exclusive perl book, though; it also covers C and other languages.

      /wonko