Book Review: MySQL Cookbook (covers MySQL 4.0)by Paul DuBois

mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2025 Posts: 7224

USA Linux Users Group Book Review
Reviewer: mmmna

Book: MySql CookBook
Author: Paul DuBois
Publisher: O'Reilly
Pages: 1022
ISBN: 0-596-00145-2
The Book: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mysqlckbk/
Covers: MySQL version 4.0, with some solutions for earlier version MySQL users.

Taking a no nonsense approach from the beginning, this book takes the neophyte by the hand and shows them, from square one, how to use MySQL as a database. Chapter 1 leads you through creating (also known as granting) a user account, then indicates how to create a basic database and a table for queries. Next, the chapter discusses starting and stopping the client, and so forth; from there, the book digs progressively deeper into the realms of the popular uses for a database.

For the advanced MySQL user, the author acknowledges the presence of many Application Program Interfaces, or APIs, but also admits he cannot readily provide recipes for all APIs (and certainly not for all possible combinations of user needs). This restrictions is due, for the most part, to book size constraints - the <ySQL Cookbook is already over 900 pages and hardly covers basic examples of Java, PHP, Perl and Python APIs (The author concedes that the books discussions about Python and Java APIs were included by popular demand).

Although my personal database skills and needs are very lightweight compared to the power of MySQL version 4.0, MySQL Cookbook is already a powerful reference for my database life, mostly because of the style in which it is written: rather encyclopedic, well sequenced and thoroughly indexed. Further, the writers style is to be very concise but also offer an accurate synopsis of the command being discussed (including when necessary any 'gotchas' we might encounter), with minimal rambling within the authors description of his example.

The core format used throughout this book is one of 'Problem, Solution, Discussion'. The added discussions most often are thoughtfully placed cautions regarding issues related to the popular misuse or misunderstanding of certain instructions - inappropriate data types, for example, or discussions of how searches can fail to produce expected results. MySQL Cookbook uses only a minimal amount of diversions (you know the kind - the ones where 'if you wanted this then try that'), and even then, those diversions that are provided are offered only after the core example has been offered. This is very comforting to me because so many books diverge into rambling babble, right in the middle of providing a key example and that diversion confuses the instructions core purpose. For that effort alone, this book becomes a tome of great significance for MySQL users. I appreciate this books style because so many other Linux books I've browsed (and left behind) at a local bookstore are written based upon the reader already knowing most of the subject being discussed - Paul assumes only that you have read this book in order from the start of the book, up to the example.

My conclusion is that the The MySQL Cookbook therefore offers a very useful, very intelligently arranged and certainls a refreshing nuts and bolts discussion of a this powerful database tool.

My suggestion for the MySQL Cookbook reader: I'd strongly suggest trying each and every example. They are very well written, and using the examples will benefit you enormously. Each example is focused on explaining the intracacies of the command being discussed and the example's setup text provides only the least possible amount of essential instructions needed to properly introduce the command. For example, where you would need to create a table in order to use some data format commands, the example includes a table construct and also includes the instruction format example being discussed. Finally, the author offers you examples of the desired MySQL output and explains why some uses for the command might produce unanticipated results in the output. A great example is how we humans can really get fooled by SORT results, and Paul DuBois easily describes the reasons why we get unanticipated results. He even explains how sorting NULL entries has changed over the various versions of MySQL, and he offers methods to fool results into the order we expected.

In some instances in this book, references are made to a website that contains premade databases and tables that are fairly easy to download but which might be a bit too much work to create by hand. Personally, I do hope that these files remain available, unrevised, for a long duration, as this book will remain on my bookshelf for a few years to come. A plea to O'Reilly:: by way of a conscientious reader service, I'd suggest that the websites referenced in MySQL Cookbook should be archived for the benefit of future readers of this fantastic book. I ask this because the internet changes far too rapidly for these links to be of any benefit to a future reader of MySQL Cookbook. It would therefore benefit future readers if O'Reilly would store a copy of the referenced online materials, compressed into a single file, stored in a format which all platforms can extract. Place the archive at a footnoted hyperlink, place the hyper link on the O'reilly website on a web page where the browser sees a detailed description of the MySQL Cookbook. Please keep that requested link available for several years, since people do not always inherit the latest versions of books from their mentors!

I feel the book sets a flawless, if not (by necessity) a bit dry, example of a discussion of a technical matter, the upshot for everyone is seeing that this is the way it needs to be written for the maximum value, at least for this consumer.

5 out of 5 mmmna biggrins.

Very Happy

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DocZayus · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2025 2:06 pm Post subject:

Thanks mmmna.

Sounds like something I could use.
Out of curiosity, what's the price range on this thing?

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richard · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2025 3:54 pm Post subject:

That was excellent. I think that I'm going to have to get this as my knowledge of MySQL is a big fat zero. Crying or Very sad

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mushroom · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2025 5:26 pm Post subject:

The book as been around for a while, it has been in my library for over a year.

As good as it is I would not make it my first chose, but worth having.

DocZayus · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2025 6:56 pm Post subject:

and what would your first choice be?

Question

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mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2025 Posts: 7224

I have SOME experience with M$ Access for lightweight relational databases (much fewer than 6 relationships), and I am quite familiar with using Excel as a flat file database (ones that use formulas to do some calculations and also to make statements about cell contents) so, for me, the constructs outlined in MySQL Cookbook were quite easy to grasp, based on my history. I'd say that each person will get some benefit. Naturally, the commands in MySQL are different from Excel, Access and MySQL probably supercede straight ANSI SQL, but my understanding is that MySQL is ANSI SQL compliant (or nearly so), therefore, the lessons and techniques learned in the MySQL Cookbook stand a good chance of being useful with straight SQL.

Mushroom - which version of this book do you own? I've never seen earlier versions of this book, but this version really impressed me as is.

I'm surprised at your comment about the book.... why is this book not your first choice, if I may ask?

Doc - around $50US at Barnes and Noble, but you need to check your local bookstores, I don't know of any canadian retailers. Can also purchase this book directly from O'Reilly website.

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mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2025 Posts: 7224

I've reposted this review at TechIMO.

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mushroom · Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2025 10:17 pm Post subject:

mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2025 Posts: 7224

The version I reviewed is copyrighted 2025, and says 'Now covers MySQL 4.01' on the upper right corner of the front cover.

Maybe you could look at this version at a bookstore?

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geeshock · Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2025 3:07 am Post subject:

Paul DuBois is a good mysql author as well as a regular contributor to the oficial mysql mailing list that I belong to. He also has other mysql books out. I have this one

http://www.kitebird.com/mysql-book/

I'd definately recomend this one Smile

mushroom · Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2025 4:23 am Post subject:

mmmna · . . . . Joined: 21 Apr 2025 Posts: 7224

This review was posted and went live on Feb 1 at TechIMO.

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rwehrli · Posted: Tue Jan 24, 2025 10:44 pm Post subject:

JP · Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2025 12:00 am Post subject:

[quote="mmmna"]This review was posted and went live on <Feb 1> HUHHH Exclamation

(j/k mmmna)

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