Reading from a file / MySQL Database

[tick]

I have some information that I need to have stored and later be retrieved and/or modified. I have come up to two ways of doing this. One is to use MySQL Database and the other would be to use files and just read and write to them.

Now I would really much prefer to use the MySQL Database way so I can learn that for later use, but how would I go about that. I've already read certain tutorials but they are all very different in some aspects and not sure which one to go with.

If anybody could share with me some Guides on using MySQL db's or if using them in cpp is completely complicated and useless and would be better done in files..(which I don't want to do)

I would like extra opinions about this matter too, about how you have gone about storing information besides these two ways listed or anything else I might be missing

[blackcoder41]

if you want a simple app then just use a text file, if you need to store huge amount of data and for security reasons use database. how much do you really know about c++? don't start thinking of this thing if you don't know c++ basics yet.

or write an app using VB.net instead of C++