SQL - Optimizing Queries with Indexing

Effective indexing is crucial for optimizing the performance of SQL queries. Use indexes strategically on columns frequently used in WHERE clauses, JOIN conditions, and ORDER BY clauses. However, avoid over-indexing, as it can lead to increased storage requirements and slower INSERT/UPDATE operations.

Example:
Suppose you have a table called "products" with a large number of rows, and you often need to retrieve products by their category and sort them by price.

With Proper Indexing:

-- Create an index on the 'category' column if not already done.
-- Create an index on the 'price' column if not already done.
-- This is typically done once as a part of table design.
CREATE INDEX idx_category ON products (category);
CREATE INDEX idx_price ON products (price);

-- Now, use the indexes to optimize the query.
SELECT *
FROM products
WHERE category = 'Electronics'
ORDER BY price;

By creating indexes on both the 'category' and 'price' columns, you can significantly improve the performance of queries that filter by category and sort by price. Indexes allow the database to locate and retrieve the relevant rows more efficiently.

Remember that while indexes boost query performance, they come with storage overhead and may impact INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE operations. Therefore, it's essential to strike a balance between indexing for read performance and maintaining reasonable write performance based on your specific database usage patterns.