MySQL 5th Edition by Paul Dubois

MySQL 5th Edition by Paul Dubois

MySQL by Paul Dubois recently was reissued in a fifth edition. I purchased my first edition of this book more than a dozen years ago and it has become heavily dog-eared, festooned with Post-Its, and hand annotated over the years. It has proven to be the ‘go-to’ book when other books or the manuals did not explain to my satisfaction any questions that have popped up.

The author is part of the amazing MySQL Documentation Team for Oracle and certainly knows the subject. At 1,154 pages it is not light in weight nor light in detail. The chapters include ‘Data Types’, ‘Writing MySQL Programs using C’, ‘Security and Access Control’, ‘System, Status and User Variable Reference’, ‘Query Optimization’, ‘Writing MySQL Programs using PHP’, and ‘The MySQl Data Dictionary’. The layout is easy on the eyes and the examples are able to spotlight the idea being covered fully. The text itself reads easily and amazingly clear. This is the most complete single book on MySQL and the one book you would bring if you have to use MySQL on the fabled desert island that allows only one book. The book is detailed enough for gnarled DBAs to discover undiscovered gems while clear enough for a junior MySQL-er to be able to get through a rough spot.

if you run across this book in a store, head directly to chapter 13 on Security and Access Control where ‘How to Steal Data’ provides any DBA a Steven King level horror story that will provide nightmare fodder for years to come. The author then guides you through MySQL security and provides the best details on Proxy Accounts I have found. Other chapters are equally profound and perfectly detailed.

It does cover some of the new features of MySQL 5.6 but 5.6 came out after this book was committed to publishing. This is a minor problem and should not stop anyone from getting a copy of this book in their hands ASAP.

And I apologize to Paul and his publisher for what I will do to this book in the next few years as I make notes, add Post-Its, fold corners on certain pages. This is a physically beautiful book that will look like a sea anemone as I make good use of it.