Unlike most programming books that attempt to be a reference, the Nutshell series from O’Reilly takes a completely different approach to provide just the information you need to solve a particular problem. The MySQL in a Nutshell book is just that, also billed as a desktop quick reference, and nothing more. As someone who usually works in other database engines, I thought I would be a good test of the completeness and accuracy of this book.

Chapter Overview

This book weighs less than a shoe. It is quite small at fewer than 350 pages, so you can defi nitely handle carrying it around. The book breaks down the different problem domains into sections, which make it very quick and easy to jump to the chapter that you need to solve a given problem.

Introduction to MySQL, Installing MySQL and MySQL Basics help the complete novice get started, providing references
to resources and help with the installation process. You are also shown how to get around once you have MySQL up and running.

SQL Statements is where I suspect most folks to be looking, as SQL syntax has always been clumsy to developers—especially developers that grow up in an object-centric world, learning how to program in languages such as Java, C, and Python.

String Functions, Date and Time Functions, Mathematical and Aggregate Functions, Flow Control Functions, and
Miscellaneous Functions are my most-worn sections of the book, as every database seems to have their own way of tackling certain functional features. Here you are given a quick reference to the functions available in MySQL, grouped by category and use.

MySQL Server and Client breaks down the client and server executables provided by the distribution, and explains the
arguments that each accepts. This can be handy for those not used to starting a Unix server process from the command line, as well as learning a bit about how to secure your server by choosing the appropriate server binary for startup.

Command-Line Utilities covers the other executables provided by the distribution. There is a wealth of helpful and handy
applications included here, and everyone should be aware of them—and should, at the least, give each one a quick look.

The Perl API, PHP API, and C API chapters document the different API functions available to each of these languages.
The API functions documented are only relating to the MySQL implementation, and you will not find any non-MySQL
functions in any of these chapters.

Three appendices cover Datatypes, Operators, and Environment Variables. Here you find quick reference to the
different datatypes MySQL has to offer (something I refer to frequently), the different operators MySQL supports and their proper syntax, and environment variables that you can use to override some settings from the .ini files.

Style Points

This book is a desktop reference, and as such there is little to talk about here. There is as little editorial content as possible, so the book really does focus just on the bare facts, which it does well.

All In The Code

There are example snippets in several languages, including SQL, PHP, C, and Perl. Each are to the point and accurate. Some could use a more verbose approach but balance must be had somewhere; and ultimately I am happy with the focus of the book.

The Author

Russell Dyer has been writing articles for several years, primarily on MySQL. He has been the editor of MySQL AB’s Knowledge Base since December 2004. He has published over ninety articles for a variety of magazines.


The Lowdown

For a MySQL specific desktop reference, you do not have any decisions to make—this is the book. Quick, concise, and with light sprinkles of examples, this book has enough information to save you time and trouble. If you are looking for a big backbreaker of a book, you will need to look for a full reference tome. That said, this book aims to save you the time you would have otherwise spent hunting through such a beast for the solution to your problems, throughout your day.

The one interesting omission in this book is the outline of new features added in the most recent releases. Although that might have taken an additional 20 or so pages, such an addition would have added to the value of the book immensely.

Despite that missing chapter, this book is an excellent desktop reference, and will be one of the more well worn books on my desk.