This presentation covers much a new developer needs to know about working WITH a database instead of against it. Plus there is much on what goes on behind the scenes when you submit a query and hints on how to avoid the big problems that can ruin your data

1. All Things Open --
Database
Programming for
Newbies
101-2 track

2. Database Programming for Newbies
This is a very short introduction to database programming and can not cover
all the things you need to know to be effective.
You have to build your skills from many sources including this talk
Example Database
The examples in this talk are
from the MySQL World database.
The content is dated but the
schema/database is still useful.
https://dev.mysql.com/doc/index-o
ther.html
MySQL Workbench
Workbench is the second most
popular FREE download from MySQL.
It is a very useful tool and has
dozens of uses (most can’t be
covered here)
Programming examples -- No, I can not provide examples in everyone’s
favorite programming language. The examples following are in a variety of
languages but all use the same concepts to communicate with a MySQL server.
2

3. Hello world!
I AM Dave Stokes
I am a MySQL Community Manager for
Oracle
You can find me at:
@stoker
David.Stokes@Oracle.com
Elephantanddolphin.blogger.com
OpensourceDBA.wordpress.com
Slides: slideshare.net/davidmstokes
3

4. 1
The Basics
You have to start
somewhere
4

5. Cat: Where are you going?
Alice: Which way should I go?
Cat: That depends on where you
are going.
Alice: I don’t know.
Cat: Then it doesn’t matter which
way you go. -- Lewis Carroll
5

6. Database Generic
▪ The concepts are generic for most
all databases
▪ Implementation are MySQL specific
▪ Differences between version will
bite you
Pay attention to the flow not the
syntax at this point
6

7. Database Server
You need to know where to
contact the server and how to
connect to it
7

8. Server Information
IP Address -- You need to connect
via a network to the server (unless
instance is local)
PORT -- Socket on server at IP
Address where database server is
accepting requests
Authentication -- Username,
password or authentication string,
and maybe more 8

9. <?php
$link = mysqli_connect("127.0.0.1", "my_user", "my_password");
if (!$link) {
echo "Error: Unable to connect to MySQL." . PHP_EOL;
echo "Debugging errno: " . mysqli_connect_errno() . PHP_EOL;
echo "Debugging error: " . mysqli_connect_error() . PHP_EOL;
exit;
}
echo "Success: A proper connection to MySQL was made! The my_db
database is great." . PHP_EOL;
echo "Host information: " . mysqli_get_host_info($link) . PHP_EOL;
mysqli_close($link);
?>
IP Address Username Password
Link or Handle -- our conduit to database
9

10. import mysql.connector
cnx = mysql.connector.connect(user='scott',
password='tiger', host='127.0.0.1',
database='employees')
cnx.close()
Again we have an IP Address, the
username/authentication and set up a
handle
10

11. We pass query to server
Usually this is in form of
a query written in
Structured Query Language
(SQL)
Sending query to a server
We receive info back
Hopefully we will receive
data back but we may get an
error message back or at
least some return code
11

12. Structured Query Language
Declarative
SQL is a fairly
simple to learn
declarative
language -- made
up of DDL & DDL.
DDL
Data Description
Language
describes how the
data is to
represented --
data type,
length, default
values, NULLable
...
DML
Data Manipulation
Language is used
to handle the
actual data --
Find all the
Cities in
California with a
population
greater than
500K, delete
records older
than 90 days,
change zip code
to 12345 from
11345
12

13. What your server does with a query
1. Is your system
allowed to connect
to server?
2. Are you allowed to
access
server/data?
3. Is the query
syntax correct?
4. Generate Query
Plan
5. Return requested
data
13

14. What the heck is
A Query Plan?!?!?
14

15. You query ...
- is examined for what data is
needed to fulfill the query.
- statistics from past queries used
to estimate lowest cost.
- every added column to a query is
potentially a new factorial of
complexity.
- Query plan is developed to get
data.
15

16. Your data
- is returned to your application
(if all goes correctly, or data
is returned, or a status code)
- Many options for reception,
depending on language
16

17. 10,000’ View
Server -- Process
Application -- Data
Application - Query
17

18. 2
A Little More Depth
A little more detail
18

19. "The time has come," the Walrus
said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and
sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings." --
Lewis Carroll 19

20. We want to get a list of CITY NAMES
with the corresponding COUNTRY NAME
from the World database.
Example Query
20

21. SHOW CREATE TABLE City;
CREATE TABLE `city` (
`ID` int(11) AUTO_INCREMENT,
`Name` char(35),
`CountryCode` char(3),
`District` char(20),
`Population` int(11)',
`Name_ci` char(35) CHARACTER SET utf8 GENERATED ALWAYS AS (Name)
STORED,
PRIMARY KEY (`ID`),
KEY `CountryCode` (`CountryCode`),
KEY `Name_ci` (`Name_ci`),
CONSTRAINT `city_ibfk_1` FOREIGN KEY (`CountryCode`) REFERENCES
`country` (`Code`))
ENGINE=InnoDB
AUTO_INCREMENT=4080
DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 21

22. Sample City Data From Query
ID Name CountryCode District Population Name_ci
1 Kabul AFG Kabol 1780000 Kabul
2 Qandahar AFG Qandahar 237500 Qandahar
3 Herat AFG Herat 186800 Herat
4 Mazar-e-Sharif AFG Balkh 127800 Mazar-e-Sharif
5 Amsterdam NLD
Noord-Holl
and 731200 Amsterdam
22

23. SHOW CREATE TABLE Country
'CREATE TABLE `country` (
`Code` char(3),
`Name` char(52),
`Continent` enum('Asia','Europe','North
America','Africa','Oceania','Antarctica','South America'),
`Region` char(26),
`SurfaceArea` float(10,2),
`IndepYear` smallint(6),
`Population` int(11),
`LifeExpectancy` float(3,1),
`GNP` float(10,2),
`GNPOld` float(10,2),
`LocalName` char(45),
`GovernmentForm` char(45),
`HeadOfState` char(60),
`Capital` int(11),
`Code2` char(2),
PRIMARY KEY (`Code`))
23

24. Generic Query (DML)
SELECT City.Name,
Country.Name
FROM City
JOIN Country ON
(City.CountryCode = Country.Code)
The desired data
From which table
How to connect the tables
24

25. Generic Query (DML) as a string
$query = “SELECT City.Name,
Country.Name
FROM City
JOIN Country ON
(City.CountryCode =
Country.Code)”;
25
Do your older self a big favor and go for clarity over space
savings when you write queries in your code.

26. Send $query to server
$result = $conn->query($query);
if ($result->num_rows > 0) {
// output data of each row
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
echo "City: " . $row[0]. " Country: " .
$row[1] . "<br>";
}
} else {
echo "0 results";
}
$conn->close();
26

27. Roughly same thing in Python
import datetime
import mysql.connector
cnx = mysql.connector.connect(user='dave', database='world')
cursor = cnx.cursor()
query = ("SELECT City.Name, Country.Name FROM City JOIN
Country ON (City.CountryCode = Country.Code)")
cursor.execute(query)
for (city_name, country_name in cursor:
print("{}, {}".format(
city_name, country_name, hire_date))
cursor.close()
cnx.close()
27

28. Many Options to retrieve data
while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
echo "City: " . $row[0]. " Country: " . $row[1] . "<br>";
}
28
mysqli_result::fetch_all — Fetches all result rows as an associative
array, a numeric array, or both
mysqli_result::fetch_array — Fetch a result row as an associative, a
numeric array, or both
mysqli_result::fetch_assoc — Fetch a result row as an associative array
mysqli_result::fetch_field_direct — Fetch meta-data for a single field
mysqli_result::fetch_field — Returns the next field in the result set
mysqli_result::fetch_fields — Returns an array of objects representing
the fields in a result set
mysqli_result::fetch_object — Returns the current row of a resultset as
an object
mysqli_result::fetch_row — Get a result row as an enumerated array

29. 3
SQL -- Structure Query
Language Basics
Five minutes on a
Relatively simple
language that can drive
you crazy for years!!
29

30. “But I don’t want to go among mad
people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can’t help that," said
the Cat: "we’re all mad here. I’m
mad. You’re mad."
"How do you know I’m mad?" said
Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or
you wouldn’t have come here.” 30

31. DDL - data definition
language
CREATE
DROP
ALTER
TRUNCATE
RENAME
31
The Major Verbs of Structured Query Language
DML - data manipulation
language
SELECT
INSERT
UPDATE
DELETE
Usually used by DBAs
to set up the data
Used to access
the data by just
about everyone

32. Check your manpage for details on each verb
SELECT
[ALL | DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW ]
[HIGH_PRIORITY]
[MAX_STATEMENT_TIME = N]
[STRAIGHT_JOIN]
[SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [SQL_BUFFER_RESULT]
[SQL_CACHE | SQL_NO_CACHE] [SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS]
select_expr [, select_expr ...]
[FROM table_references
[PARTITION partition_list]
[WHERE where_condition]
[GROUP BY {col_name | expr | position}
[ASC | DESC], ... [WITH ROLLUP]]
[HAVING where_condition]
[ORDER BY {col_name | expr | position}
[ASC | DESC], ...]
[LIMIT {[offset,] row_count | row_count OFFSET offset}]
[PROCEDURE procedure_name(argument_list)]
[INTO OUTFILE 'file_name'
[CHARACTER SET charset_name]
export_options
| INTO DUMPFILE 'file_name'
| INTO var_name [, var_name]]
[FOR UPDATE | LOCK IN SHARE MODE]]
32

33. 99% of your SELECTs will be much simpler
SELECT
select_expr [, select_expr
...]
[FROM table_references
[WHERE where_condition]
[GROUP BY {col_name}
[ORDER BY {col_name}
[LIMIT {row_count]
33
SELECT Name,
District,
ID
FROM City
WHERE ID < 100000
GROUP BY District
ORDER BY Name
LIMIT 5
Most of the VERBs simplify down to a few,
more common qualifiers. Best way to learn is
to follow examples in a manual or book.

34. output
34

35. You DESCRIBE what you want,
sort of like ordering a
pizza!
35
SQL is a Declarative Language
The bad part:
Like a pizza, you have to
know the ingredients to be
able to order what you
want!
You can’t look at an SQL
query and tell if it is bad
…
Just like a menu does not
tell you if the cheese has
gone fuzzy and the
pepperoni meows

36. You now know
-Client server database
model
-Queries passed to server
-Data returned (sometimes)
-A little DML & DDL
-The MySQL authentical
system
-Basic query & SQL VERBs
36
Running summary
What to add
-JOINs
-SQL Injection
-N+1 Problem
-Transactions
-Indexes
-Wrap-up
-Q/A

37. 4
JOINing tables
A good glimpse at the
Relational model
37

38. “Everything is funny, if you can
laugh at it.”
38

39. JOINs
JOINs allow you to connect
two tables on (hopefully) a
common element.
-Depends on data
normalization (weeks can be
spent on just that!) -- For
now just accept that some
has broken up all the data
into component data -- For
our example we have a table
with City information,
Country information, and
Languages spoke in a
Country information and
that someone architected
the data so that one field
can help tie them together.
39

40. 40
CountryCode
All three
tables in our
example
database can
be linked
easily by these
columns
Also note that
each of the
columns used to
link are INDEXed
or Keys

41. 41
A database index is a data structure that
improves the speed of data retrieval operations
on a database table at the cost of additional
writes and storage space to maintain the index
data structure. Indexes are used to quickly
locate data without having to search every row
in a database table every time a database table
is accessed. Indices can be created using one
or more columns of a database table, providing
the basis for both rapid random lookups and
efficient access of ordered records. --
Wikipedia

42. 42
Remember the Query Plan???
The query plan tried to find
efficient indexes to help retrieve
data.

43. Optimizer Trace
{
"query_block": {
"select_id": 1,
"cost_info": {
"query_cost": "5132.14"
},
"nested_loop": [
{
"table": {
"table_name": "Country",
"access_type": "ALL",
"possible_keys": [
"PRIMARY"
],
"rows_examined_per_scan": 239,
"rows_produced_per_join": 239,
"filtered": "100.00",
"cost_info": {
"read_cost": "6.00",
"eval_cost": "47.80",
"prefix_cost": "53.80",
"data_read_per_join": "61K"
},
"used_columns": [
"Code",
"Name"
]
}
},
{
"table": {
"table_name": "City",
"access_type": "ref",
"possible_keys": [
"CountryCode"
],
"key": "CountryCode",
"used_key_parts": [
"CountryCode"
],
"key_length": "3",
"ref": [
"world.Country.Code"
],
"rows_examined_per_scan": 17,
"rows_produced_per_join": 4231,
"filtered": "100.00",
"cost_info": {
"read_cost": "4231.95",
"eval_cost": "846.39",
"prefix_cost": "5132.14",
"data_read_per_join": "727K"
},
"used_columns": [
"Name",
"CountryCode"
]
}
}
]
}
}
43
The KEY used
to perform the
join on our
example
query is in
both tables

44. Optimizer
What fields are needed?
-- Cost
-- Can a INDEX(es) be used
-- Which INDEX
-- WHERE clause (later)
-- SORT (later)
44

45. EXPLAIN -- prepend ‘EXPLAIN’ to query
Explain details what the optimizer wants to do to run the query.
For the City table the CountryCode index is used to link to the
Code column in the Country Table.
There is a possible key on the Country table but it is not
needed/used for this query
45

46. Visual Explain -- MySQL Workbench
46

47. 47

48. 5
Problems
Where the train
Starts to go
Off the tracks
48

49. She generally gave herself very
good advice, (though she very
seldom followed it)
49

50. 1. Network connection
2. Is host okay to connect?
3. Does user have proper access?
4. Syntax check
5. Query Plan Generation
6. Return data
50
Each Connection to the database has a cost
Therefore seek to use the
fewest calls to the database to
get the needed data!!!

51. N+1 Example -- Ride to work
1. Ask database for a list
of employees.
2. Do any of these
employees have a parking
permit.
3. Do any of those in step
two live in same zip
code.
51
1. Ask database for a list
of employes with a
parking permit living in
your zipcode.
Think of data in big sets -- Let the
database do the heavy lifting

52. Which is more efficient -- Sales staff 20% raise
foreach (sale_emp in sales_employees)
$pay += $pay * .20;
UPDATE employees
SET pay_rate = pay_rate + pay_rate * .20
WHERE department = ‘sales’;
52
START TRANSACTION;
COMMIT;
What is easier to recover in case of a
crash of a PHB correction?

53. SQL Injection
SQL Injection is where you
-- the programmer -- take
raw, unfiltered data from
the end user and plop it
into an SQL query.
The ‘injection’ is SQL code
put into your query that
can give the end user
access to your data.
NEVER, NEVER put raw input
data from end user into
your SQL queries.
Check for validity -- Are
numbers really numbers? Are
there special characters
that you do not want? Are
you really certain that the
inputs are in the write
format.
53

54. Little Bobby Drop Tables
54

55. SELECT * FROM customer WHERE id=$x
Expected an Integer
Received ‘TRUE’
Expected an Integer
Received ‘TRUE’;SELECT * FROM
mysql.user;
55
EXAMPLE of vulnerable code

56. Last BIG PROBLEM
for today
56
Check return codes -- Do
not assume all went
well. Be prepared to
roll back pr resubmit or
handle and error

57. BOOKS YOU REALLY REALLY NEED if you want
CJ Date Bill Karwin
57

58. BOOKS YOU REALLY REALLY NEED if you want to be GOOD
Any of the top 20 AMAZON
books on {Your Favorite
Programming Language Here}
and {Your Database Of
Choice Here}
Bill Karwin
58

59. What if I do not want to do SQL?!?!
Key/Value Pairs
JSON - Document Storage
Graph Databases
Other NoSQL approaches
Keep everything in memory all the
time 59

60. Thanks!
ANY QUESTIONS?
You can find me at:
@stoker
david.stokes@oracle.com
elephantanddolphin.blogger.com
60