I recently completed an AJAX course. Naturally, I wanted to come home and try out the things I had learned, to reinforce them.
Oh. My. God.
I already had mySQL (a database system) installed on my iBook from months ago, and php (a web programming language that specializes in connecting databases and web pages) was also installed a long time ago . . . but I'd never tried to actually connect them before.
When I was 8, I rode a tobaggon down a steep hill and slammed sideways into a tree. It was one of the more painful experiences of my life.
Wrestling with my php code and getting it to successfully communicating with the mySQL database was slightly less painful than that, but it lasted much longer.
I googled every error message I received. I tried ext/mysql and ext/mysqli. I recreated my database user. After spending nearly the entire evening trying and failing, I discovered that apparently if the root user in mySQL has a password, it will not allow the connection to work. It made no sense, but I cleared the password, and sure enough, it worked.
Too bad it's bed time and too late for me to do any of the actual Ajax material I learned. :(