[ic] upgrade to mySQL successful -- opinions requested

[Paul Jordan]

behalf of; Grant [listbox at email.com] wrote:
> I've finished upgrading to mySQL and it seems pretty cool.  I'm
> messing around with the *.sql files in the dbconf/mysql directory and
> it looks like if there aren't any COLUMN_DEF field definitions in a
> table's file, IC just sets the fields with default definitions.  I'm
> just wondering if there's any reason to set up those COLUMN_DEFs for
> new fields if the defaults will work OK.  It's just that I'm totally
> new to SQL, and I want to make sure I'm not blowing it by not
> defining the field specifics.  Any advice is much appreciated.
>
> - Grant

I believe the default is an unindexed VARCHAR(255). Varchar is a good all
around type. However space can be saved by optimizing you columns defs. A good
example is say INT. If I have a the value of 2147483647 in an UNSIGNED INT
column, it takes up 4 bytes of space. In a varcahr column it takes up 11 bytes.

Also, it may behoove you to index columns. If you have queries that are
selecting all ebay_transactions where user_id = '123', then the user_id column
should be indexed for efficiency... stuff like that.

http://www.mysql.com/documentation/index.html

http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/Column_types.html

Read up on data types, as they are there to help you. You can subscribe to a
Mysql list, although when I was a member of one of the lists, it was wild wild
west... top posting nightmare.


HTH
Paul