Companies that operate without the assistance of a dedicated data warehouse often have to rely on a live production database. For these companies, optimization of information is key – be clear about what your intent is for a query before enacting one. Avoiding internal errors and user booting from a system is much easier than you may think.
Before starting your SQL query, it’s important to follow a simple set of guidelines. Be clear on what your intent is and be precise with the language you use. The less vague language you use, the less chance there is that your query will result in errors. By following these simple tips and tricks, you’ll be able to optimize SQL queries for better results and a more organized company.
Know your Requirements First
Start off by speaking with everyone involved in the query. Before you can properly develop the SQL query, you must hear what everyone hopes to achieve from the final results. By organizing your thoughts and speaking with everyone involved, you’ll have a better road map of where you want this query to go.
This leads to the next requirement – finalizing a destination. Keep your query’s goal clear and achievable as you don’t want to risk overloading the system with a broad final result. Keeping your goal clear and obvious allows you to avoid unnecessary risks on the part of the query.
Asking the questions that need to be asked should be one of your top priorities and should be accomplished prior to development. Drafting your questions allows you to review and redo any vague or broad questions. Stick to the who, what, when, where, and why scale when asking the query questions.
Keep your requirements specific and strict. The more open-ended you leave this query, the more likely it is to result in an error or to come back with useless information. Keep your requirements strict so that the SQL query can’t go outside of the lines you’ve drawn.
Stick to the Proper Terminology
One mistake made by almost anyone who runs an SQL query is their use of terminology. In order to properly optimize your query, you’ll need to use the right terms – avoid errors in order of operations or improper coding language. Keep your terminology clear and strict. Here are a few examples of tips when it comes to terminology.
SELECT DISTINCTLY
It’s better to avoid a SELECT DISTINCT from occurring, not because they’re harmful, simply overwhelming. It takes a lot of processing power to conduct a SELECT DISTINCT command, so it’s better to select more fields.
Wildcard
Be careful when selecting your wildcard terms. Some queries might use the wildcard you’ve selected to mean any combination of these letters rather than beginning or end tags on a word. Specify that your wildcard comes at the beginning or at the end of the word rather than in the center to avoid pointless results.
LIMIT
By placing a limit on the return results, you’re able to better organize your return data and avoid an overload of information. LIMIT commands keep your results clean and clear.
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