Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Structured Query Language (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Rick Van Der Lans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0201596180 | ISBN-13: 978-0201596182 | Edition: 3

This book provides a technical introduction to the features of SQL. Aimed at those new to SQL, but not new to programming, it gives the reader the essential skills required to start programming with this language.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, Dutch (translation) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap

Preface

SQL was, is and always will be the database language for relational database

systems such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Informix and Microsoft SQL Server. This

book contains a complete description of the database language SQL (Structured

Query Language). It should be seen primarily as a textbook in the active sense.

After reading this book you should be able to use SQL efficiently and effectively.

SQL supports a small, but very powerful, set of statements for manipulating,

managing, and protecting data stored in a database. This power has resulted

in its tremendous popularity. In the early eighties there were only ten to twenty

SQL products, but today there are at least twice as many. Almost every database

product supports SQL or a dialect of the language. Currently, SQL products are

available for every kind of computer, from microcomputer to mainframe, and for

every operating system, including DOS, Microsoft Windows and UNIX. Since 1987

there has been an official international standard for SQL. This has developed

into what Michael Stonebraker, an authority in the field of databases, once

expressed as intergalactic dataspeak.

Topics

In this book every aspect of SQL will be discussed thoroughly and critically.

The aspects of SQL that are covered include:
• querying data (joins, functions and subqueries)
• updating data
• creating tables and views
• specifying primary and foreign keys and other constraints
• using indexes
• data security
• developing stored procedures and triggers
• application development with embedded SQL and ODBC
• transactions
• optimization of statements
• dealing with object relational concepts, such as subtables, references,

sets and user-defined data types in the catalog.

For whom is this book intended?

We recommended this book to those who want to use the full power of SQL effectively

and efficiently in practice. This book is therefore suitable for the following

groups of people:
• students in higher education, including those in technical colleges,

polytechnics, universities and sixth-form colleges;
• programmers who develop or intend to develop applications with the help

of an SQL product;
• designers, analysts and consultants who need to deal, directly or indirectly,

with SQL or another relational database language and want to know its features

and limitations;
• owners of microcomputers who want to learn SQL with the help of SOLID;
• home students who are interested in SQL in particular or in relational

databases in general;
• users who have the authority to use SQL to query the database of the

company or establishment where they work.

A practical book

This book should be seen primarily as a textbook in the active sense, and

less as a reference work. To this end, it contains many examples and exercises

(with answers). Do not ignore the exercises. Experience shows that you will

learn the language more completely and more quickly by practising often and

doing many exercises.

Practising with SOLID

This book includes an SQL product called SOLID. This is a complete SQL pro-duct,

which is available for almost every microcomputer on which Windows 95, 98 or

NT has been installed. We advise you to install this product and do as many

exercises as possible with the help of SOLID.

Prerequisite knowledge

Some general knowledge of programming languages and database management systems

is required.

The third edition

This book is a completely revised third edition of Introduction to SQL, which

was first published in 1988. The second edition (van der Lans, 1992) was also

a complete revised edition. However, in recent years SQL has evolved considerably.

The number of products supporting SQL is still growing, the third version of

the international SQL standard will probably appear within the foreseeable future

and the functionality of some SQL products has increased considerably. These

seemed good enough reasons to revise Introduction to SQL completely.

For teachers who use Introduction to SQL in their classes, the major differences

are summarized below:
• the sequence of the chapters has been changed somewhat; on one hand,

this was done so that the new subjects could be added in logical places and,

on the other hand, so that the book could be split into separate sections;
• a new section is devoted to stored procedures and triggers; these concepts

have been implemented by many vendors and this has made it necessary to consider

them in this book;
• another new section is devoted to concepts coming from the object-oriented

world; there are not at present many products that support object orientation,

but it is to be expected that many products will do so in the not too distant

future;
• the chapter that describes how SOLID must be installed and used is, of

course, completely new; in the previous edition we used a different product

called Quadbase;
• the chapter on application development with pre-programmed SQL has been

extended considerably; we devote a whole section to this subject and have included

an additional chapter on using SQL in combination with ODBC;
• in each chapter the same database is used for most of the examples and

exercises; we have made some changes to this because of the new topics; the

naming of some tables and columns has also been changed to make it possible

to implement the database with SOLID;
• the chapter on developing reports has been removed; this is because SOLID

itself does not offer reporting facilities; furthermore, report generation is

not part of SQL.

And finally ...

I would like to use this preface to thank a number of people and companies

for their contributions to this book.

I am grateful to Solid Information Technology for providing the software for

inclusion with the book. I think that this product is invaluable for anyone

who wants to learn SQL. The best way to learn a language is still to work with

it!

It does not matter how many times a writer reads through his own work; editors

remain indispensable. A writer does not read what he has written, but what he

thinks he has written. In this respect writing is like programming. That is

why I owe a great deal to the following people for reviewing the manuscript

or parts of it, for making critical comments and giving very helpful advice:

Nok van Veen, Aad Speksnijder, Ed Jedeloo, Corine Cools, Andrea Gray, Josien

van der Laan, Richard van Dijk, Onno de Maar, Sandor Nieuwenhuijs, Wim Frederiks,

Ian Cargill and Marc van Cappellen.

I would also like to thank the hundreds of students who have studied SQL with

me over the past few years. Their comments and recommendations have been invaluable

in revising this book. In addition, a large number of readers of the previous

edition responded to my request to send comments and suggestions. I want to

thank them for the trouble they took to put these in writing.

For the first and second editions Diane Cools did much of the typing and corrected

many errors. I am still grateful for that, because working with WordStar version

1 on a PC/XT without a hard disk looked like a luxury then. I would like to

thank her again for her work on this new edition, but in another way. For a

writer it is reassuring to know that there is someone who, especially in difficult

times, keeps stimulating and motivating you. Thanks, Diane!

Finally, I would again like to ask readers to send comments, opinions, ideas

and suggestions concerning the contents of the book to the publisher: Addison-Wesley

at Pearson Education, 128 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9AN, England, marked for the

attention of Rick F. van der Lans, 'Introduction to SQL'. Many thanks, in anticipation,

of your cooperation.

Rick F. van der Lans
The Hague, March 1999

0201596180P04062001

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 720 pages
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional; 3 edition (November 22, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201596180
• ISBN-13: 978-0201596182
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,449,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, August 22, 1998

By 

A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to SQL (2nd Edition) (Paperback)

I ordered this book through amazon.com when there where no reviews-- took a chance and did it ever pay off. So now i'm writing a review for the next guy who is looking for a good book to get HANDS-ON sql experience with. You should have some understanding of relational databases and a basic understanding of sql to get the maximum from this book, but that's not necessary, first time sql self-teachers stand to benefit greatly from it also. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to gain further understanding of SQL and relational databases.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, with numerous helpful examples, December 30, 2000

By 

John P. Rickert - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Structured Query Language (3rd Edition) (Paperback)

First, I should mention that I got this book in Dec. 2000 and had no trouble installing the disk on Windows98. Hopefully the problem pointed about by another reviewer has been resolved. Incidentally, I find the SOLID server very easy to set up and use, with a simple but friendly user interface. OK, now for the book. It is very clear and includes numerous detailed examples, along with step-by-step discussion as to why the syntax works the way it does. This is particularly helpful when grouping, subqueries, joins, etc., or combinations thereof are involved. Sometimes he'll solve a problem in more than one way, which is good to see. Occasionally, too, like a good teacher he will have a snare for the unwary and go on to say, "Wait, this isn't working the way intended," and use the pitfall as a way of bringing home a point. Another thing I like is the adaptation of Backus-Naur Form that he uses in specifying languages -- if you've never seen BNF before (which included me before reading this book), that may sound a little daunting. Actually, it makes correct usage really clear. One more thing to mention about this book is its excellent range of topics without bogging down on them. In addition to covering the core keywords "select", "from", "where", and so forth, he talks about imbedded SQL (which I rely on heavily when I use VB or work on web pages), stored procedures, and what ODBC is, to mention only a few extra topics. Finally, the translator should be commended for readable, fluent English.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for any person who wants a deep understanding of basic SQL commands., September 18, 2009

By 

Brad "Bradley" (Columbia, MD) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Relational Database Language (4th Edition) (Paperback)

Many times people will look at the screen after typing a sql query containing a distinct aggregation and think... "How the hell did that query bring up this result".

Rick F. van der Lans Does an absolutly amazing job at describing in minute detail every nuance and mathmatical thought behind the most basic of sql functions. This book is platform independent, so it doesn't go into great detail in regards to proprietary functions and DBA related issues; however, I would highly recommend it to DBA's, Data Analysts and Programmers. No matter what your skill level, you will get something from this book.

-Brad