MySQL - Essential Skills

Dr. John Horn, Ph.D.
Michael Grey
Interstate Software, Inc.

McGraw-Hill /Osborne

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MySQL: Essential Skills

Copyright 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of publisher, with the exception that the program listings may be entered, stored, and executed in a computer system, but they may not be reproduced for publication.

1234567890 CUS CUS 01987654

ISBN 0-07-225513-7

Publisher
Brandon A. Nordin

Vice President & Associate Publisher
Scott Rogers

Editorial Director
Wendy Rinaldi

Acquisitions Editor
Nancy Maragioglio

Senior Project Editor
LeeAnn Pickrell

Acquisitions Coordinator
Athena Honore

Technical Editors
Brian Kaney, Jay Powers

Copy Editor
Marilyn Smith

Proofreader
Marian Selig

Indexer
Karin Arrigoni

Composition
John Patrus, Jean Butterfield

Illustrators
Kathleen Edwards, Melinda Lytle

Series Design
Jean Butterfield

Cover Design
Jeff Weeks

This book was composed with Corel VENTURA Publisher.

Information has been obtained by McGraw-Hill /Osborne from sources believed to be reliable. However, because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by our sources, McGraw-Hill /Osborne, or others, McGraw-Hill /Osborne does not guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or the results obtained from the use of such information.

This book is dedicated to my wife, my partner, and my best friend, Jenny.
”John Horn

To my parents, Don and Georgia Miller;
my brothers and sisters-in-law, Dave and Donna and Bob and Carolyn;
and my nieces and nephews and their spouses: Ryan and Renee, Jason and Sarah, Tiffany and Tommy, John and Melissa, Katie and Josh, and Peter and Crystal. You couldn t ask for a better family.
”Michael Grey

About the Authors

John Horn is from Medicine Lodge, Kansas. He started programming on Apple computers during high school in 1983. Currently, he is the CEO of Interstate Software, the only MySQL training center in North America and the only Gold Level MySQL training, support, and consulting group in the world. Since 1994, he and his team have commercially supported everything from small web site databases to a MySQL database that is over half a terabyte (>500GB). They are the only MySQL training group that offers MySQL training on Linux, Solaris, and Windows. Interstate focuses on Open Source Solutions for the Enterprise and are also Novell and SuSE, Training and Business Partners. John is married to Jenny; they have one son, Kodi, and live in Kansas City, Missouri.

Michael Grey is a technical writer and instructor for Interstate Software. She has previously, among other things, written and executed software testing for RAID storage, been a webmaster, and attained the unusual combination of a bachelor s in computer science and a master s in English. Michael lives in the Kansas City, Kansas, area with a cat named Pixel, who, so far at least, has not walked through any walls.

About the Technical Editors

Brian Kaney , co-founder of Vermonster LLC, graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a bachelor s degree in engineering. While in college, he worked as a consultant for various companies in New England. He later co-founded Askfor.com, piloting a new middleware technology. In 2000 he co-founded Vermonster, a consulting company located in Boston, focusing on open software and open standards for the Enterprise.

Jay Powers is a graduate of the University of Vermont and has been working with open source technology for over seven years . He is experienced in designing and building web applications and web services. Before starting Vermonster, he worked as a technology director at Askfor.com, an Internet startup company. Prior to that, he worked as a director at AdSmart, a CMGI company. When Jay is not writing code, he enjoys riding around Boston on his fixed-gear Pinarello bicycle.

Acknowledgments

I ve often heard the sentiment that no book is ever written alone, and this one is no exception. In addition to the invaluable expertise of my co-author , Dr. John Horn, there were many others who offered technical assistance, especially Jenny Horn, Kyle Sexton, Dennis Beckley, and last but never least, Brian McCullough.

In addition, there have been a myriad of friends who listened as I talked through explanations of things they didn t really understand and who put up with my deadline panics and general writer s anxiety, including but not limited to Chantel Austin, Vicki Hadley, Karen Burge, Jenny Crighton, and Rules.

I d like to thank Nancy Maragioglio, Athena Honore, and LeeAnn Pickrell from McGraw-Hill/Osborne for shepherding me through the writing and editing process, especially Nancy for offering support, reassurance, and encouragement in just the right proportions . Also, kudos to our technical editors, Jay Powers and Brian Kaney, for keen eyes and truly constructive criticism, plus a special thanks to Brian for his kind contribution to the PHP material in Module 7.

When John suggested we write this book together, I had the vague notion that it would be fun. My bad. While fun is no longer a word I would connect to the experience, it has ultimately been enriching ”though perhaps in the way that Dante was enriched by his sojourn through the Inferno. Seeing it on the shelf with our names on the cover will, I expect, be fun enough.
”Michael Grey