Ian Gilfillan

Introduction Many web developers are self-taught, learning HTML, then moving on to a programming language such as PHP. From there, they often learn to integrate this with a database. Too few though have a good theoretical knowledge of databases. Mention foreign keys, or referential integrity, and you’re met with a blank stare. Small databases can […]

By now some of you are familiar with the basics of using databases in your cgi scripts. Many of your databases will be small, with one or two tables. But as you become braver, tackling bigger projects, you may start finding that the design of your tables is proving problematic. The SQL you write starts […]

Most of you should be familiar with basic queries, SELECTS, UPDATES and DELETES using one table. But to harness the true power of relational databases it is vital to master queries using more than one table. This article will introduce you to database joins – queries using 2 or more tables. This article assumes you […]

Part 1 – Compiling MySQL Like a grand prix driver starting at the back of the track, if you don’t do things well from the beginning, and prepare hard for the race, it doesn’t matter how well you do once the race has started. You’re at the back and are never going to win. So, […]

You know the scene. The database is just too slow. Queries are queuing up, backlogs growing, users being refused connection. Management is ready to spend millions on “upgrading” to some other system, when the problem is really that MySQL is simply not being used properly. Badly defined or non-existent MySQL indexes are one of the […]