“What is the difference between an index and a key? How are they related?”

“There seams to be some confusion between what a Primary Key is, and what an Index is and how they are used. The Primary Key is a logical object. By that I mean that is simply defines a set of properties on one column or a set of columns to require that the columns which make up the primary key are unique and that none of them are null. Because they are unique and not null, these values (or value if your primary key is a single column) can then be used to identify a single row in the table every time. In most if not all database platforms the Primary Key will have an index created on it. An index on the other hand doesn’t define uniqueness. An index is used to more quickly find rows in the table based on the values which are part of the index. When you create an index within the database, you are creating a physical object which is being saved to disk.”

“A primary key by default creates a clustered index. A unique constraint/key by default creates a non-clustered index.”

“An index is a (logically) ordered list of rows. For example, an index on LastName means all values are already sorted in LastName order. Usually index rows contain far fewer columns in them than the table itself (except the clustered index, which is the table). A key is a column or columns that defines the order of an index. For example, on an index ordered by (LastName,FirstName), then LastName and FirstName are the keys. Btw, a primary key is a physical object, not a logical one. The db engine needs physical rows in order to insure unique values in the index.”

--Difference between an index and a key?, SQLTeam.com

"As a relational feature, keys can only be properly understood within the formal foundation of the RDM, which is simple set theory (SST) expressible in first order predicate logic (FOPL) adapted and applied to database management. Yet that is precisely what is ignored and dismissed in the industry -- including by the authors of SQL[3]."

“One of the things that confuse SQL users all the time is how DISTINCT and ORDER BY are related in a SQL query ... most people quickly understand:
   

SELECT DISTINCT length
FROM film

[that] returns results in an arbitrary order, because the database can (and might apply hashing rather than ordering to remove duplicates) ... Most people also understand:
   

SELECT length
FROM film
ORDER BY length

[that] will give us duplicates, but in order ... And, of course, we can combine the two:
   

SELECT DISTINCT length
FROM film
ORDER BY length

[But if] somewhat intuitively, we may want to order the lengths differently, e.g. by title:
   

SELECT DISTINCT length
FROM film
ORDER BY title

[m]ost databases [sic] fail this query with an exception like Oracle’s:

ORA-01791: not a SELECTed expression

At first sight ... this

SELECT length
FROM film
ORDER BY title

works after all ... So, how are these different? We have to rewind and check out the logical order of SQL operations (as opposed to the syntactic order). And always remember, this is the logical order, not the actual order executed by the optimiser.”

--How SQL DISTINCT and ORDER BY are Related, Jooq.org

“I learned that there is no concept of order in terms of tuples (e.g. rows) in a table, but according to wikipedia "a tuple is an ordered list of elements". Does that mean that attributes do have an order? If yes why would they be treated differently, couldn't one add another column to a table (which is why the tuples don't have order)? [OTOH], "In this notation, attribute–value pairs may appear in any order." Does this mean attributes have no order?”

--Do the “columns” in a table in a RMDB have order?

“Is it possible to reorder rows in SQL database? For example, how can I swap the order of 2nd row and 3rd row's values? The order of the row is important to me since i need to display the value according to the order [and] 'Order by' won't work for me. For example, I put a list of bookmarks in database. I want to display based on the result I get from query. (not in alphabet order). Just when they are inserted. But user may re-arrange the position of the bookmark (in any way he/she wants). So I can't use 'order by'. An example is how the bookmark display in the bookmark in firefox. User can switch position easily. How can I mention that in DB?”

--How can I reorder rows in sql database

“The choice of good InnoDB primary keys is a critical performance tuning decision. This post will guide you through the steps of choosing the best primary key depending on your workload ... You would be surprised how many times I had to explain the importance of primary keys and how many debates I had around the topic as often people have preconceived ideas that translate into doing things a certain way without further thinking.”

--Yves Trudeau, Principal architect, Percona.com

“A short time ago a colleague asked me where he could find a "Databases 101" guide for the non-technical professional. As it turns out, the internet is littered with information, and mis-information, regarding data and databases. This makes it difficult for someone entering the field of data and databases to understand the bigger picture. He wanted something to help make sense of data and databases, specifically relational versus NoSQL. So, that’s what I decided to work on. This is the start of my Databases 101 guide for the non-database professional; something to help anyone understand why the word “database” is an overloaded term. We use the term "database" to describe a great many things ... I use the terms database and database engine interchangeably in this article.”
                            --Databases 101, ThomasLaRock.com