Can I use the MySQL books I already have to learn MariaDB?

Question

Ultimately, I want to learn MariaDB. I’ve found that there are hundreds more resources for learning MySQL than for MariaDB. My assumption is that everything I learn from a MySQL book will also apply to MariaDB since it’s a drop-in replacement for MySQL.

From the MariaDB website:

For all practical purposes, MariaDB is a binary drop in replacement of the same MySQL version (for example MySQL 5.1 -> MariaDB 5.1, MariaDB 5.2 & MariaDB 5.3 are compatible. MySQL 5.5 will be compatible with MariaDB 5.5).

Will I be able to use MySQL books to prepare for learning MariaDB or will they be useless to me if what I really want to learn is MariaDB?

Answer 1

If you take care about the few differences and incompatibilities (very few, mariadb starts from the same codebase than MySQL), you should have no problem using a resources from one DB and applying them to the other DB.

Even more so if you are mostly focusing in SQL syntax.

Answer 2

You don't really need to care about the differences, unless you are a very advanced user. MariaDB can replace MySQL with every application I know. Some MySQL 5.6 optimizations are not in MariaDB, but much more MariaDB optimizations are not in MySQL.