Filtering before Join or after Join in SQL

Question

I have two queries to get the same data, they more or less have the same execution time.

SELECT name AS prog_name,d.chap_name,d.vid_name,d.idvideo FROM program 
     JOIN (SELECT name AS chap_name,chapter.idprogram, c.vid_name,c.idvideo FROM chapter 
     JOIN (SELECT a.name AS vid_name, a.idvideo, b.idchapter FROM video a 
     JOIN (SELECT idvideo,idchapter,x.idchaptervideo FROM chaptervideo 
     JOIN (SELECT idchaptervideo FROM prescriptionvideo  WHERE idprescription=50)x 
     ON x.idchaptervideo=chaptervideo.idchaptervideo) b 
     ON b.idvideo=a.idvideo)c 
     ON c.idchapter=chapter.idchapter) d 
     ON d.idprogram=program.idprogram

SELECT program.name AS prog_name,chapter.name as chap_name,video.name as vid_name,video.idvideo FROM prescriptionvideo
JOIN chaptervideo ON prescriptionvideo.idchaptervideo=chaptervideo.idchaptervideo
JOIN video on chaptervideo.idvideo=video.idvideo
JOIN chapter on chaptervideo.idchapter=chapter.idchapter
JOIN program on chapter.idprogram=program.idprogram
where idprescription=50

Can somebody guide me as to which one of them is better. I have used filtering before joins in the former and after joins in the latter. The MySQL explain shows more row scans in the former compared to the latter.

Answer 1

1st one is better as it is easy to read and write and has the lower row scan value otherwise the queries have the same result set.