Leverage SQL indexing to hurry up your queries. Study when to index, when to not, and the way indexing works underneath the hood.

SQL indexing is a time period typically thrown round in information circles — you could have heard phrases like “simply apply an index”. Additionally it is a query typically requested in interviews — “what steps can take to enhance question instances on desk X?”. It’s one thing that’s syntactically simple to implement however I’ve discovered not a lot consideration is paid to what truly occurs underneath the hood. On this article I goal to do exactly that by utilizing a relational MySQL Database (DB). I’ll cowl what an index is, the best way to implement it, the way it works underneath the hood, together with some issues of when to not use indexes. As with many applied sciences, even SQL indexes have their trade-offs.

In my examples I take advantage of a easy MySQL container from Docker. I don’t cowl how this works however be at liberty to achieve out you probably have any questions. I’ll present the code I take advantage of to populate the DB on this article so that you can adapt in your personal use case and experiment your self.

I begin off with a high-level overview. The extra granular element is afterward within the article. As such, I hope I can present invaluable insights to a large readership of various technical inclinations. If you happen to’re like me you’ll discover the visualisations in…