SQL query optimisation is not fun

06 Feb 2004

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Well, maybe it is a little. We're trying to optimise a crazily-slow MySQL query for our article search. Who'd've thought that a DISTINCT on a list of already-distinct list of (primary indexed) numeric identifiers would make it 50 times slower. Our fulltext indices don't seem to be behaving nearly as fast as we recall when we first installed them. Probably the initial euphoria tainting our memory - goodbye keywordmap table!

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Hi, I'm Neil Blakey-Milner, a technology generalist most interested by open source, security, and building scalable systems (especially if I get to use the Python programming language).

I "work" at the incredibly fun web-sites-for-everyone startup SynthaSite based in beautiful Cape Town, South Africa.

What I do

  • StarCamp

    I was the main instigator behind this 2-day unconference in December 2007 in Cape Town. There'll be another one in Cape Town around July.

  • GeekDinner

    I help out in making these geek social events happen every two months in Cape Town since March 2007.

  • SynthaSite

    I make sure that the systems run smoothly at this Cape Town-born Web 2.0 startup.

  • Presentations

    I speak publically on a number of topics - generally related to technical aspects of open source software or on software development.

  • Code

    I've written a few software projects of my own over the years (although mostly I'm the only user of them).

  • Photos

    I'm far from an artist, but I enjoy capturing my experiences on camera.

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