looking at hosts, some questions

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Hi, I'm in a strange spot where I know quite a bit about web design but very little about hosting. So here's my questions:

1) What is "shared" hosting?

2) What's a "mySQL Database? Does that mean I could set up ecommerce on my site?

3) If I'm creating the pages on a Mac, do I need to look for any special support from my host?

4) If I'm locked into Register.com for email for 5 years, can I still use another host for email?

5) Why might I want unlimited FTP Accounts, or unlimited subdomains?

6) What is "Fantastico"?

7) What is "PHPMyAdmin"?