MySQL Table Joins

One of the great characteristics of SQL (Structured Query Language) is the fact that one can develop access and modify data across various tables. There are several benefits to this, including greater ease of manipulation, increased speed of access, and reduced data redundancy. In MySQL (as well as many other SQL languages), this is accomplished via the join command.

So what does a join do, anyway? In short, a join command unites some or all of the data from two or more tables into one comprehensive structure. If this capability was not available, then the administrator would be forced to create ever-expanding, all-encompassing tables that would result in the reduction of overall efficiency and speed of data access and manipulation, even eventually possibly causing the database structure to fail entirely. The joining capability allows the administrator to create small, compact relational tables that can greatly influence database performance. This is especially useful among larger organizations, given the fact that they have the opportunity to divide their database into several departmental sections, allowing each department to effectively manage their relevant data. The alternative to this would be to force one administrator to manage all departmental sections, something that probably does not bode well both in terms of overall organization and efficiency.

For sake of illustration, let's assume a computer manufacturer is in need of a database in which it can efficiently mine data. This data will be divided into various compact tables, each specifying data relative to a certain concept, such as orders, clients and products. After the tables are created, various examples with be illustrated, showing how this manufacturer can use joins to make the most of the database.

(Note to reader: While the concepts to follow could be applied to practically all SQL-based databases, it should be noted that the examples are illustrated using MySQL syntax. Therefore, there could be minor differences between this syntax and other sql-based languages.)

The first table will hold the various types of PCs that the manufacturer distributes:

mysql> create table pcs (
    -> pid INT,  // product id
    -> spec char(3),
    -> os char(10),
    -> ram INT,
    -> hd char(4)
    -> );

The second table will contain data regarding the various clients of the manufacturer:

mysql> create table clients (
    -> name char(25),
    -> cid char(8), // client id
    -> email char(25),
    -> tel char(10)
    -> );

The third table will contain data regarding order information:

mysql> create table orders (
    -> order_date date,
    -> pid INT,
    -> cid char(8)
    -> );

Data Insertion

We next insert data into each table:

pcs
pid	spec	os	ram	hd
1	386	linux	64	3.1
2	386	linux	128	4.2
3	486	WinNT	64	3.1
4	586	Linux	128	4.2
5	586	Win98	128	6.4

clients
name	cid	email	tel
acme, inc.	acm-042	acme@acme.com	123-456-7890
widgets-r-us, inc.	wig-043	widgets@rus.com	421-555-3434
italimp, inc.	imp-042	italian@imports.com	459-555-3212
fedey, inc.	fed-043	fed@ey.com	439-555-8899

orders
date	pid	cid
1999-12-05	2	acm-042
1999-12-04	3	wig-043
1999-12-04	1	acm-042
1999-12-05	2	acm-042
1999-12-12	5	fed-043
1999-12-05	5	imp-042

So, how does one go about pulling useful data from these tables? What if the boss wanted a report listing the email addresses of all clients who ordered a particular pc on a particular date? Or perhaps the amount of RAM used in filling orders placed by a particular client? This is easily accomplished via the various joins available to us. Let's use the tables we have created and construct our first join statement.

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