SQL Performance Explained helps developers to improve database performance. The focus is on SQL—it covers all major SQL databases without getting lost in the details of any one specific product.

Starting with the basics of indexing and the WHERE clause, SQL Performance Explained guides developers through all parts of an SQL statement and explains the pitfalls of object-relational mapping (ORM) tools like Hibernate.

Topics covered include:

• Using multi-column indexes

• Correctly applying SQL functions

• Efficient use of LIKE queries

• Optimizing join operations

• Clustering data to improve performance

• Pipelined execution of ORDER BY and GROUP BY

• Getting the best performance for pagination queries

• Understanding the scalability of databases

Its systematic structure makes SQL Performance Explained both a textbook and a reference manual that should be on every developer’s bookshelf.

Covers all major databases: Oracle® Database, SQL Server®, PostgreSQL, MySQL

What readers say:

“This book is definitively worth having in the company library.” — Joe Celko

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Anatomy of an Index

Chapter 2 The Where Clause

Chapter 3 Performance and Scalability

Chapter 4 The Join Operation

Chapter 5 Clustering Data

Chapter 6 Sorting and Grouping

Chapter 7 Partial Results

Chapter 8 Modifying Data

Appendix A Execution Plans