Database Indexing for Performance: Strategies and Pitfalls
Database Indexing for Performance: Strategies and Pitfalls Indexes speed up data retrieval by letting the database locate rows without scanning the whole table. Think of an index as a map that orders values and stores pointers to their locations. When a query filters on a column or sorts by it, the index can guide the database to the results much faster. But indexes are not free. They take storage and slow down inserts, updates, and deletes, so design matters. ...