I'm new to programming but its a field that I'd really like to get into. The only experience I have is with php. Most of my php scripts were written to collect data, store the data in a mysql database table, then access the data and generate reports. Makes sense right?

Well I'd like to begin writing a financial package and I'm not sure what programming language I should use to do it. If you're wondering why a financial package, well I just thought it would be a fun project where I could actually use the end product. I'd like the program to work on windows and linux so im assuming i should use Java. I have a lot of java programming books that i plan on using to learn the language.

Now to my question, php stores the data it receives in mysql database tables, where do programming languages like java, c, c++ store their data? It there some kind of database utility built in to these languages? How do programming languages store the information that users enter, and then access the data later? Thanks.

That statement, as it is, is plain wrong. PHP can use other databases
like PostrgeSQL, too ... it's all a matter of APIs and libraries.

See above.
MySQL and Postgres come with APIs for many languages,
including C, C++, Perl, Java ... from other parties you can
get interfaces for other lingos, too



Cheers,
Tink

hmmm, seeing as how i was talking about my personal experience with php, and how i use it, that statement is not wrong. I wasnt saying that mysql is the only database solution for php, its just the solution that I use when I write php applications.

Im new to programming, what's an API? where do i get an API? would I need to have the API installed on the machines that I would like to use my Java program on? Or do I only need the API present when I'm writing the program, and once I compile the database source will be included automatically?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API

I read through the article and found this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Database_Connectivity

I think that answers most of my questions. Thanks for the link it was very helpful.

I'm quite happy to argue that ... ;)

You didn't say "From PHP I use a MySQL database for
persistent storage, how would I go about persistent data
from other languages" but "php stores the data it receives
in mysql database tables" which is something matter-of-
factly ;) and still wrong. I use PHP and "store data it
receives" in plain text files without touching MySQL
or other databases.


Cheers,
Tink

dude read the first paragraph of my post. its obvious i was talking about my personal experience with the language. its clear that im not an advanced programmer so its not like anyones going to read my post and take anything away from it. you decided to critique my post instead of offering any kind useful information that i could actually understand given my lack of programming knowledge. thanks to the person who actually posted useful information, that link helped a lot.