title: how does a SQL query work?
body: <p>How does a SQL query work?
  How does it get compiled?
  Is the <code>from</code> clause compiled first to see if the table exists?
  How does it actually retrieve data from the database? 
  How and in what format are the tables stored in a database?</p>
  
  <p>I am using phpmyadmin, is there any way I can peek into the files where data is stored?
  I am using MySQL</p>