DELETEs are difficult
Your database is ticking along nicely - until a simple DELETE brings it to its knees. What went wrong? While we tend to focus on optimizing SELECT and INSERT operations, we often overlook the hidden complexities of DELETE. Yet, removing unnecessary data is just as critical. Outdated or irrelevant data can bloat your database, degrade performance, and make maintenance a nightmare. Worse, retaining some types of data without valid justification might even lead to compliance issues.
These queries might work effortlessly on your development machine, where only a few hundred records exist. But what happens when you try running a similar DELETE in production, where datasets are orders of magnitude larger?
In this article, we’ll uncover why DELETE operations demand careful consideration and explore how to handle them effectively.
At first glance, a DELETE query might seem straightforward. However, once the query is executed, a series of intricate steps occur:
