Database Zone

Did you ever wonder how the MySQL fulltext indexing works? I mean the mathematics behind MySQL's fulltext index feature. At the Epsilon-Delta weblog there is an article by Ted Dziuba entitled "Dissecting MySQL Fulltext Indexing" that explains the mathematics behind Fulltext searching and what it can and cannot do.

Fulltext Indexing is a method by which MySQL quantifies the relevance of textual entries to an input query. The concept is similar to the way Google quantifies the importance of pages on the web with PageRank. However, in the context of a database, the requirements of the method are a little different.

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A pointer from Slashdot: BusinessWeek has another spread on open source this week. Among them is an article about open source vs. the database vendors which focused on how businesses are looking to save money with open source (rather than using the source to innovate). From the article: "The databases work fine, but as data volume grows, so do the checks to Oracle, IBM, or Microsoft. Many users aren't clamoring for more features, and some don't even use the bells and whistles they already paid for. They would happily trade some to get their hands on the source code and a better deal." Disclaimer: that quote came from Sony."

Three ALTER TABLEs to make the AUTO_INCREMENT column complete,
Seven UPDATES for the INTEGER column to prevent disaster,
Nine for TEMPORARY data doomed to DELETE,
One REPLACE for the replication MASTER
In the land of MySQL where the dolphin plays.

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