MySQL and mSQL

Chapter 13. C and C++

In this book, we examine several different programming languages, Python, Java, Perl, and C. Of these languages, C/C++ is by far the most challenging. With the other languages, your primary concern is the formulation of SQL, the passing of that SQL to a function call, and the manipulation of the resulting data. C adds the very complex issue of memory management into the mix.

Both MySQL and mSQL provide C libraries that enable the creation of MySQL and mSQL database applications. In fact, MySQL derives its API very heavily from mSQL, meaning that experience programming against one API translates well to the next. As we explored in the first section, however, MySQL is much more feature-rich than mSQL. These extra features naturally result in a few differences between the two APIs. In this chapter, we will examine these differences while coming to understand the details of each API by building an object-oriented C++ API that can be conditionally compiled to run with either API.

The Two APIs

Whether you are using C or C++, the MySQL and mSQL C APIs are your gateway into the database. How you use them, however, can be very different depending on whether you are using C or the object-oriented features of C++. C database programming must be attacked in a linear fashion, where you step through your application process to understand where the database calls are made and where clean up needs to occur. Object-oriented C++, on the other hand, requires an OO interface into ...