Ben Forta

MariaDB Crash Course

MariaDB Crash Course

ISBN: 0321799941

Pages: 290

Publisher: Addison Wesley – September 17, 2011

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MariaDB is a fork (offshoot) of MySQL, one of the most popular database management systems in the world. MariaDB was created by the creator of MySQL to address some of the limitations and shortcomings in MySQL, and is intended to be a drop in replacement for MySQL as well.

This book is based on my best-selling Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes. That book has become one of the most used SQL tutorials in the world, with an emphasis on teaching what you really need to know, methodically, systematically, and simply. But as popular and as successful as that book it, it does have some limitations:

  • In covering all of the major DBMSs, coverage of DBMS specific features and functionality had to be kept to a minimum.
  • To simplify the SQL taught, the lowest common denominator had to be found, SQL statements that would (as much as possible) work with all major DBMSs. This requirement necessitated that better DBMS specific solutions not be covered.
  • While basic SQL tends to be rather portable between DBMSs, more advanced SQL most definitely is not. As such, that book could not cover advanced topics like triggers, cursors, stored procedures, access control, transactions, and more, in any real detail.

And that is where this book comes in. MariaDB Crash Course builds on the proven tutorials and structure of Sams Teach Yourself SQL in Ten Minutes, without getting bogged down with anything but MariaDB. Starting with simple data retrieval and working on to more complex topics including the use of joins, subqueries, regular expression and full text based searches, stored procedures, cursors, triggers, table constraints, and much more. You’ll learn what you need to know methodically, systematically, and simply – in 30 highly focused lessons designed to make you immediately and effortlessly productive.

Is this book right for you? This is a beginner-intermediate book, and is not intended for SQL (including MySQL) experts. This book is for you if:

  • You are new to SQL.
  • You are just getting started with MariaDB and want to hit the ground running.
  • You want to quickly learn how to get the most out of MariaDB.
  • You want to learn how to use MariaDB in your own application development.
  • You want to be productive quickly and easily using MariaDB without having to call someone for help.
  • If you want to invest minimal time (and cost) for a crash course on one of the most important DBMSs out there, then this book is indeed for you.

Note: MariaDB is based on MySQL, and indeed can be thought of as MySQL plus additional features and functionality. If you have experience with MySQL then everything you have learned about that DBMS will apply to MariaDB. As such, if you have a copy of my MySQL Crash Course then you do not need this book, and I would advise against buying a copy of MariaDB Crash Course.

Chapter listing

  • Introduction
  • 1: Understanding SQL
  • 2: Introducing MariaDB
  • 3: Working With MariaDB
  • 4: Retrieving Data
  • 5: Sorting Retrieved Data
  • 6: Filtering Data
  • 7: Advanced Data Filtering
  • 8: Using Wildcard Filtering
  • 9: Searching Using Regular Expressions
  • 10: Creating Calculated Fields
  • 11: Using Data Manipulation Functions
  • 12: Summarizing Data
  • 13: Grouping Data
  • 14: Working with Subqueries
  • 15: Joining Tables
  • 16: Creating Advanced Joins
  • 17: Combining Queries
  • 18: Full Text Searching
  • 19: Inserting Data
  • 20: Updating and Deleting Data
  • 21: Creating and Manipulating Tables
  • 22: Using Views
  • 23: Working with Stored Procedures
  • 24: Using Cursors
  • 25: Using Triggers
  • 26: Managing Transaction Processing
  • 27: Globalization and Localization
  • 28: Managing Security
  • 29: Database Maintenance
  • 30: Improving Performance
  • Appendix A: Getting Started With MariaDB
  • Appendix B: The Example Tables
  • Appendix C: MariaDB Datatypes
  • Appendix D: MariaDB Reserved Words

Supporting Resources

Getting Started

Looking for software to get started? Here’s what you need:

  • To download a copy of MariaDB, visit the MariaDB site.
  • The optional MySQL Workbench GUI client can be downloaded from the MySQL download page.

Appendix B: The Example Tables

Appendix B: The Example Tables describes the database tables used in the examples in this book. You may download creation and population scripts here: