Database normalization is a process by which an existing schema is modified to bring its component tables into compliance with a series of progressive normal forms. The goal of database normalization is to ensure that every non-key column in every table is directly dependent on the key, the whole key and nothing but the key and with this goal come benefits in the form of reduced redundancies, fewer anomalies, and improved efficiencies. While normalization is not the be-all and end-all of good design, a normalized schema provides a good starting point for further development.This article will take a practical look at database normalization, focusing on the first three of seven generally recognized normal forms.

Description of many features in MySQL, which work as advertised, but not as those used to other databases may expect.

Most users at one time or another have dealt with hierarchical data in a SQL database and no doubt learned that the management of hierarchical data is not what a relational database is intended for. The tables of a relational database are not hierarchical (like XML), but are simply a flat list. Hierarchical data has a parent-child relationship that is not naturally represented in a relational database table.

In this article we explore how to program foreign keys into a MySQL Server. This is important when your application requires referential integrity and the storage engine you’d like to use, as in the case of MyISAM or NDB (Cluster), does not support this functionality natively. We should note that InnoDB and the upcoming code-named “Falcon” storage engine, both support foreign keys.

Applications using the LAMP (Linux®, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl) architecture are constantly being developed and deployed. But often the server administrator has little control over the application itself because it's written by someone else. This series of three articles discusses many of the server configuration items that can make or break an application's performance. This third article, the last in the series, focuses on tuning the database layer for maximum efficiency.

In Part 1 of this three-part series, you learned about the salient features of open source technologies such as Firefox, Zend Core, and MySQL. You were introduced to a non-trivial bank scenario that spans across all three tiers of an Ajax application. You also set up the database server, mid-tier server, and Eclipse-based IDE, which are required for end-to-end Ajax application development. In this second part of the series, you will develop some portions of the bank scenario. In particular, you'll create a back-end database using the MySQL database. You'll get exposure to several MySQL command-line tools for connecting, creating, defining, and populating bank-specific data in the database. Then, you will develop a mid-tier PHP module to house the bank's business logic, which uses ODBC to connect to the MySQL database. Finally, you'll develop a bank portal to provide a simple browser UI through which users can interact with this end-to-end application, which will soon be ready to run on Zend Core.

This article shows how to use a combination of MySQL, PHP, Prototype.js, and Asynchronous JavaScript™ and XML (Ajax) to add simple rating and comment functionality to any site.

Introduction
When developing corporate-level business applications (Enterprise Scale) customers often requires implementing support for extensibility of the application object model not modifying the system source code. Use of extensible domain model allows for development of new functionality without additional effort and overheads:

1) the application will be used for a more lengthy period
2) the system workflow can be modified over time when changing external factors
3) “setting” the application to fit specifics of an enterprise where it has been deployed.
The most simple and cost effective way to achieve the required functionality would be implementing extensible business entities in an application with the support of custom fields.

Does MySQL Cluster scale? Does MySQL Cluster rock? This article try to answer these questions with tests of MySQL Cluster 5.1.20.

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) often utilize different bundled technologies. Choosing the right grouping of technologies can expedite development times and provide users a complete and rich Internet experience. Discover how to use Java™ EE platform components on the server side, the Adobe® Flex™ platform on the client side, and the MySQL® database server for storage persistence.