Separate docs for MySQL Connectors

The MySQL documentation section has always had this Topic Guides page containing links to the docs for the various MySQL Connectors -- the official database drivers for various languages and programming technologies. That is the most convenient way to get the information for each Connector in PDF form, rather than downloading the entire Ref Man PDF. For HTML, it was more of a shortcut, because most HTML links led back into the Ref Man, where the Connectors material is embedded all in one chapter. (For example, "22.3. MySQL Connector/J".)

Now we have started building each of the Connectors sections as its own HTML doc, linked from the Topic Guides page. That allows for faster turnaround for updates -- sometimes the Ref Man takes a few days to be rebuilt and posted. Also, it gives each Connector its own TOC, making the the topics more visible than when they're pushed down several levels in the Ref Man. (For example, "22.3.7. Connection Pooling with Connector/J" becomes "Chapter 7. Connection Pooling with Connector/J".)

The language-themed Connectors are:

• 
  MySQL Connector/J for applications written in Java to the JDBC spec.
  


• 
  MySQL Connector/Net for applications written in C# and other .NET languages.
  


• 
  MySQL Connector/Python for applications written in Python. This one is new: an alternative to the MySQLdb module, currently in beta.
  


• 
  MySQL Connector/C++ for applications written in C++.
  


• 
  MySQL Connector/C for applications written in C.
  


• 
  MySQL Connector/ODBC for applications written to the ODBC spec.
  

InnoDB Plugin Doc

The InnoDB Plugin manual is now available on the MySQL web site.

Ten Years Gone

I've been pretty quiet lately, because I'm in a transitional period. After 10 years on documentation for Oracle Database and other enterprise server products, I'm switching to the InnoDB group that already works with MySQL. New development environments, new customers, it's an exciting time!

A decade seems to be the right timeframe for me. It was 10 years at IBM before that. Check back in 2019, I'm sure there'll be something new then too.