PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual Quickpro Guide, Second Edition

Using Different Table Types

The MySQL database application supports several different types of tables (a table’s type is also called its storage engine). Although each type supports a different feature set, how you interact with them—in terms of running queries—is generally consistent.

The most important table type is MyISAM. MyISAM tables are great for most applications, handling SELECTs and INSERTs very quickly. But the MyISAM storage engine cannot manage transactions, a feature I talk about in Chapter 11.

After MyISAM, the two most popular storage engines are InnoDB and MEMORY (which used to be called HEAP). InnoDB tables have been part of the default MySQL installation since version 4.0 (if you are using an earlier version, you must enable ...