1/26/2005 -- MySQL AB recently announced that it will be updating its certification exams on Feb. 1 to reflect changes made in the upgrade of its open-source database server, MySQL 4.0, to version 4.1.

The move will affect both the Core and Professional exams of the Sweden-based developer’s certification program. While most of the changes will focus on revised content relevant to MySQL 4.1, the Core exam will also feature readjusted objective weighting and some new sub-objective areas, including:

• More emphasis on SELECT statements and less on the section “MySQL and MySQL AB”
• Removal of questions on MySQL Control Center
• Using server-side help, TIMESTAMP behavior, and storage requirements for character strings
• Prepared statements in the “Basic SQL” exam section and the INSERT … ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE command

The Professional exam will not have any structural changes, but it will introduce topics such as the new cluster storage engine, NDBCluster, and the command SHOW WARNINGS.

The update, however, will not cover all of the new features in MySQL 4.1, as “they do not fit into the framework of general MySQL usage,” according to MySQL’s Web site.

For more information on the exam updates, go here. -Dan Hong