MySQL: The Complete Reference

This well-written book is a wonderful technical reference for this popular open-source database platform. It's comprehensive enough for seasoned MySQL users yet clear enough for the newcomer.

Vikram Vaswani's book is a great technical resource for MySQL professionals and newcomers alike. It provides a wealth of examples, including both SQL source code and transaction output throughout the book. The first part of the book, tailored toward those new to databases and/or MySQL provides a brief introduction to the world of databases, a technical tour of MySQL and an illustrated guide through the installation and configuration process. Part II comprises the bulk of the book and consists of nine chapters dedicated to exploring MySQL and the Structured Query Language in detail. If you've never worked with databases before, you'll be a pro by the time you finish reading this section and working through all of the examples. Part III is designed for database administrators and covers the details of administering and configuring MySQL databases. My sole complaint with the book lies in the security section, where the chapter merely walks through the syntax of SQL's security commands but doesn't provide a more general coverage of database security theory. Part IV describes MySQL from the database developer's point of view with a chapter devoted to describing the package's application programmer interface (API). It also contains individual chapters describing how to work with MySQL in Perl, C and PHP.