MySQL Certification Study Guide

By Bruce Hard

The MySQL Certification Study Guide begins with important information covering the type of exams, tips for taking an exam, registration details, and a reference to the MySQL candidate guide (appendix B). It is organized directly around the certification objectives and each chapter starts with the list of exam topics it will cover and their approximate percentage towards the exam. The all important practice questions that simulate the actual exam are included at the end of each chapter and they will challenge you.

The book's first part consists of nine chapters and provides the information needed to prepare for the MySQL Core exam also known as the first tier on the road to full MySQL certification. The book includes an overview of the most widely used MySQL client programs such as mysql, mysqldump, and mysqlimport. It provides tips for using script files and formatting output.

The book illustrates and emphasizes the benefits of the various storage engines such as InnoDB that uses a tablespace and supports transactions. The authors provide some valuable insight on how MySQL handles locking and go on to point out the interesting concept of table types including heap or memory tables. Additional chapters cover data definition language (DDL), basic SQL, Select statements, the limit clause, update statements and replace statements. There is also a chapter on inner and outer joins.

You do need some MySQL experience to get the most out of the books final chapters (10-16), since it targets the more experienced and emphasizes the MySQL Professional exam material. Topics include the MySQL architecture on Windows and Unix, installation, configuration, security, tuning, MyISAM tables, and InnoDB tables. These chapters are designed for the individual who has passed the MySQL Core Certification. This exam material will test you on basic installation, setup and management of a MySQL server.

The book is intended for someone pursuing a certification as a MySQL Certified professional. It is a how to get "MySQL certified" book. Readers will learn to supplement their current SQL knowledge with MySQL specific features and syntax. Readers should be familiar with MySQL, its reference manual (available online), and have access to a running version of MySQL to benefit most from this book. It is well known that one of the most efficient ways to become familiar with MySQL technology is to have access to an actual MySQL server running the current production release of MySQL software. The authors provide many examples that may be tested on your practice system.

This book does a great job in explaining the syntax used in MySQL within configuration files, with client programs as well as MySQL specific SQL features. The source code for the database examples listed in the book is not downloadable so readers will have to type them in to practice. This book covers the 4.0.x release of the software. MySQL 4.0.x does not yet support triggers, views, and stored procedures, they are available in the MySQL 5.0 alpha version.

The authors have written the book in an efficient self-study style that involves identifying database features, briefly providing examples, and then elaborating on how and why you might need to apply them. The book is written in a very straightforward manner and is very easy to follow and comprehend. This book should be very useful to those preparing for a certification exam. If you have the discipline to work through the 629 pages of this self-study book and can learn efficiently by reading then this is the book for you. All in all, I highly recommend this book.

About the Author

Bruce Hard has worked on a variety of software development projects using numerous database APIs. He has served as a database administrator, developer, and architect utilizing Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL databases. He is the former editor of the South Florida Oracle User Group newsletter. He is currently participating in a development project involving heterogeneous databases including replicated MySQL servers for a call center application service provider. He holds an M.S. in Computer Science from Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, Florida. You can contact Bruce about this book review at reviews@ugn.com

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