Re: "select count(*) from contacts" is too slow!

Christopher Browne wrote:
> A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, nolan@celery.tssi.com wrote:
> 
>>>MySQL can tell you from it's index because it doesn't care if it gives you the
>>>right number or not.
>>
>>Under what circumstances would MySQL give the wrong number?  
> 
> 
> It would give the wrong number under _every_ circumstance where there
> are uncommitted INSERTs or DELETEs.

Give them some credit. I just double checked:

Using mysql 4.0.14 + innodb and transactions,

select count(*) from foo;

does not count uncommited INSERTs.

Heck, even using myisam, mysql's count(*)'s still accurate, since all 
INSERTs, etc are autocommitted.

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