Summary

Today you learned some fundamental and important techniques for building a MySQL database. You learned how to use the mysql client program, in both its interactive and batch modes. You saw how to pass it username and password information for authenticating that user to MySQL, a principle that you can now apply to all of MySQL's client programs.

For manipulating databases, you learned how to create, list, and drop databases, and you saw how to create, list, drop, and alter tables within them.

Finally, you looked at how to add, show, and drop indexes on your tables. You learned the syntax for doing these things within the CREATE TABLE and ALTER TABLE statements, and you saw some examples. In Day 9, you'll learn more about the various kinds of indexes, how they work in detail, and when to apply them.