Beginning MySQL Database Design and Optimization: From Novice to Professional

Nearly every non-trivial application requires data persistence, and for an application of any significant size and scope, persistence is typically achieved using a database. If you’re building or maintaining any significant application and are using MySQL, this book is for you. For open source and other types of projects, the MySQL database is a very popular choice: it’s free, fast, robust, and scalable, and it runs on all of the major platforms, allowing maximum use of available hardware resources. But it’s easy to disregard MySQL’s speed and other advantages if your database design is inefficient. Needlessly duplicating data, using improper types for columns, overloading a single table where multiple tables should be used, failing to leverage the calculation features of MySQL, and making multiple queries instead of an efficient single query are some of the common mistakes.

Beginning MySQL Database Design and Optimization shows you how to identify, overcome, and avoid gross inefficiencies. It demonstrates how to maximize the many data manipulation features that MySQL includes. This book explains how to include tests and branches in your queries, how to normalize your database, and how to issue concurrent queries to boost performance, among many other design and optimization topics. You’ll also learn about some features new to MySQL 4.1 and 5.0 like subqueries, stored procedures, and views, all of which will help you build even more efficient applications.

With the help of this book, you'll learn how to identify, overcome, and avoid gross inefficiencies in MySQL. Further, you will see how to maximize built-in data manipulation features. And you'll discover the benefits of incorporating tests and branches within your queries.

You will also learn about normalizing your database, and issuing simultaneous queries to boost performance-along with numerous other design and optimization topics. So if you're building or maintaining any significant application with MySQL, then this book is your one-stop for training and preparing!

Chad Russell is a programmer and network administrator who owns his own Internet hosting company. He previously has written on MySQL, PHP, and other topics.

Jon Stephens is an itinerant American technical writer, reviewer and site developer. He has co-written more than five books on web development, including Usable Forms for the Web, and Constructing Usable Web Menus