[/
    Copyright (c) 2019-2023 Ruben Perez Hidalgo (rubenperez038 at gmail dot com)
   
    Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying
    file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt)
]

[section:intro Introduction]
[nochunk]

__Self__ is a C++11 client for the __Mysql__ and [@https://mariadb.com/ MariaDB] database servers, based on __Asio__.

[heading Motivation]

MySQL and MariaDB are widespread SQL database servers. MySQL
clients connect to the server in order to issue SQL queries. For this
purpose, MySQL employs a dedicated protocol. __Self__ is an
implementation of the client side of this protocol.

This library is a full implementation of the
[@https://dev.mysql.com/doc/dev/mysql-server/latest/PAGE_PROTOCOL.html MySQL client/server protocol].
It aims to expose the protocol primitives in an efficient but easy-to-use way.
It is similar in scope to the official [@https://dev.mysql.com/doc/c-api/8.0/en/ libmysqlclient],
but interoperable with Asio, safer and more expressive. Note that __Self__
[*does not use libmysqlclient]: it's a full implementation of the MySQL protocol, which makes
it natively compatible with Asio.

This library is relatively low level. It gives you access to text SQL queries and
prepared statements. Don't expect an ORM. [link mysql.overview This section] presents a quick tour
over the main library capabilities.

The design goals of this library are:

* [*Interoperability with Asio]: this library employs the same principles as __Asio__ and __Beast__.
  Users of any of these libraries will immediately understand Boost.MySQL, and will have it easy
  to integrate it in their programs.
* [*Basis for further abstraction]: it allows efficient access to the MySQL client/server protocol
  so it can be used by higher level components as a building block. Do a single thing and do it well.
* [*Efficiency].
* [*Ease of use]: the MySQL protocol is full of pitfalls. We believe in simplicity. While retaining
  control over the important parts, the library hides as much complexity from the protocol as possible.

Non-goals:

* [*Being an ORM].
* [*Being a SQL query generator]. The library doesn't focus on utilities to generate queries.
  Don't expect syntax sugar like `table("orders").select(["id", "quantity"]).where("id", 42)`.
* [*Portability to other SQL databases]. This library focuses on MySQL. It won't work with Postgres
  or SQLite.

[heading When to use]

If any of the following statements is true, you may consider using __Self__:

* Your application uses __Asio__ and you need to access a MySQL server.
* You need asynchronous access to a MySQL server from a C++ application.
* You need efficient access to a MySQL server from a C++ application.
* You need a BSL-licensed library to access your MySQL server.
* You are writing a higher-level database access library, like an ORM.

Use cases may include web servers, ETL processes and IoT systems.

It may not be a good fit for you if:

* You only need synchronous access to a MySQL server and efficiency doesn't matter
  to your application. The official client libraries may be better suited for you, in this case.
* You need homogeneous SQL access to different SQL databases (and not only MySQL access).
  You may find more value in using [@https://github.com/rbock/sqlpp11 sqlpp11] or a similar wrapper
  library.



[heading Tested compilers and systems]

Boost.MySQL is tested under the following compilers:

* gcc 5.4 (Linux)
* gcc 6.5 (Linux)
* gcc 10.3 (Linux)
* gcc 11.2 (Linux)
* gcc 13.0 (Linux)
* clang 3.6 (Linux)
* clang 7.0 (Linux)
* clang 11.0 (Linux)
* clang 14.0 (Linux)
* clang 16.0 (Linux)
* clang 14.0 (OSX)
* MSVC 14.1 - Visual Studio 2017 (Windows)
* MSVC 14.2 - Visual Studio 2019 (Windows)
* MSVC 14.3 - Visual Studio 2022 (Windows)

And with the following RDBMS systems:

* MySQL v5.7.41.
* MySQL v8.0.33.
* MariaDB v11.0.

[heading Acknowledgements]

I would like to specially acknowledge [@https://github.com/madmongo1 Richard Hodges] (hodges.r@gmail.com)
for his invaluable technical guidance during development. Thanks also to
Christian Mazakas for his ideas in early stages, and to
[@https://github.com/klemens-morgenstern Klemens Morgenstern] and
and [@https://github.com/vinniefalco Vinnie Falco] for his techincal advice.
Without you, this library would not exist.

Finally, thanks to [@https://github.com/chriskohlhoff Christopher Kohlhoff]
for his awesome __Asio__ library, and to [@https://github.com/HowardHinnant
Howard Hinnant] for his date algorithms, shamelessly copied in this lib.


[endsect] [/intro]