Customer Reviews

Oracle SQL by Example (3rd Edition)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I use SQL daily and I'm still not very good at it.
I don't pick up languages easily or memorize syntax
or vocabulary be it French, Spanish or SQL.
So, several times a day I pick up this book
to reference how to do something with SQL that I need
to know NOW before moving on to my next 20
emergency du jures.
.
This is a great book........ the best that I have found.
.

I had picked up a copy of O'Reilly's "Oracle SQL*Plus" text. Read through the first few pages, got discouraged, and the book sat on the shelf for five years.
Since then, I have become a strong believer of "Learning by doing". Last year, I had bought this book with the same philosophy in mind. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. As the other reviewers have pointed out, the author starts with simple examples and builds on the material. Every concept is followed by at least one example.

The questions at the end of each chapter reinforce the concepts covered in the chapter. The answers (to the questions) introduce more concepts followed by more examples, and the learning process goes on and on ...

All in all, an excellent resource to learn Oracle's sqlplus.

Having said that, what this book is not is a certification guide. For those aspiring to write the Oracle certification exams will have to go an extra mile of investing time & money in another text that is specifically geared towards certifications. And this is where I am heading next.

You will like this book! I knew absolutely nothing about SQL, but this book will put your mind at ease. The author is easygoing and writes what could be a very tough topic in a non-intimating way. Believe me, this book will quickly become your best friend when it comes to learning SQL/Oracle. This book is so detailed that it covers every conceivable aspect of SQL/Oracle. Personally, I just wanted to learn SQL and really don't know what database I want to use at this point, but this book is an excellent way to learn SQL -- especially for those that like to learn at their own pace like I do. So, if you are a "learn-it-yourselfer" like I am, you will love it. It even has end of chapter review questions to reinforce in the learning. Plus, it's a terrific resource after you complete the chapters.

Now the downside: I would say the only confusing part is uploading the tutorial database (which you have to do from the author's website. It will take a little brainpower and a few aspirin because the directions on the author's website assume some previous knowledge. But trust me; you will eventually get it to work. I should tell you that it would be helpful, not necessary, but helpful to know a little bit about relational databases (like MS Access) before you tackle Oracle. Anther thing to know is that the author tells you that you need the Standard or Professional full editions, which would be very expensive and only necessary if you own a Fortune 500 company! But, thankfully, you do not need the full versions. All you need is the Express Edition to practice on and the book tutorials are well suited to it. The Express Edition is free software downloadable from Oracle's website, and really, it's all the casual hobbyist needs anyway and it's plenty powerful. Now, for those who are not familiar with Oracle, it has a completely different look and feel from ...like MS Access, for example. Oracle looks like DOS and initially feels just as clunky. But, it will grow on you. You also can apply the SQL concepts to Microsoft SQL Server if you want to learn another DB.

So if you are really serious and dedicated about learning databases, and don't mind a difficult initial set up, buy this book.

I rarely find a techical book that has just everything I would want.. this one has it, and more. It's "hands on" and example based, but the theory is clearly and orderly introduced. Presentation style is neither boring nor distracting. The author's tech skill are awe inspiring but she still manages to write excellent material for beginners. She really cares to teach, not to show off her skills and knowledge...
So if you really want to learn SQL, want to do it with no pain, lots and lots of practical examples and *solved exercises*, and also get some practice with on of the most used database platforms available.. well this is the book you want. Do yourself a favour and start here.
You might want to check out also:
Beginning Oracle SQL
especially if you would like to read something a little more "compact" and "theory oriented" that still has solved exercises.. but I really think that when it comes to learning SQL nothing is more valuable than lots and lots of practice and examples..my advice is read them both, you won't regret it.
The only reproach I can make to to author is that she still has not written an intermediate level text as a follow up of this awesome text!

This is a great book to pick up and start learning Oracle SQL. I am an Adjunct Profressor and this it the book I use in my Intro to Oracle Programming. What has made this book such a success for me is the pace of the book. It is task oriented which is great for self-paced or classroom learning. She covers the topics in the right order to continue building on previous topics. It is a great book to start you off and you will find it very valuable resource.

Also, the "Student" database provided via the books website is really usefull. Students immediately understand the data model because Courses, Sections, Enrollment, Grades, etc makes since to them. If you want to learn Oracle SQL this is the best place to start! I can't say enough about how great it is!

The book improves with each edition. The brief data modeling section is adequate but uses Information Engineering data models and should be updated to use UML. The treatment describing joins fails to adequately explain why you chose one over the other.

There are a few errors here and there, like the default for the DATE format mask, which is 'DD-MON-RR' not 'DD-MON-YY'. Multiple table join coverage of ANSI SQL: 1999 standard is weak but there is currently no better treatment. Hierarchical queries in the Oracle 10gR1 release perform differently than in Oracle 9i and there is no coverage of differences.

A future edition of the book should expand its treatment of recursive, or self-referencing, joins and hierarchical joins. Also, I would recommend she expand the: (a) discussion of inner, outer and full outer joins; (b) discussions and exercises to support multiple table joins; and (c) coverage of analytical SQL for data warehouses.

This book is nicely laid out and easy to follow. There are lots of examples of syntax and many of the common functions are discussed. There is also a good amount of information about SQL Developer and SQL+. It is valuable to know about those tools when using SQL with Oracle. This book has kept my interest and I have learned some new tricks. There are lots of quizzes and plenty of information that pertains to Oracle SQL exams.

This a good book for anyone that is interested in learning Oracle SQL. If you have a basic understanding of SQL commands, you should have no problem picking this up quickly. If you don't have any experience, the reading is easy; you shouldn't have trouble either.

The content look deceptively simple. However upon further reading one finds that it covers many aspects or ORACLE SQL plus differences between ORACLE and ANSI standard.
One does need to know some relational database theory before starting to read this book though. It does cover the basic of the relational database theory but not in a depth.
However the ORACLE SQL statements and functions are very well presented and the book does cover details and use cases.

This is an good book to explore the mechanics of Oracle's implementation of SQL. It has average organization, but you'll have a bumpy read.

The exercises are sometimes the only place concepts are addressed. Some information on Oracle is incorrect, like the default date format. The book uses the value prior to Y2K. The 3rd Edition is a patch work of changes and a complete or major overhaul would be helpful. It is not for a beginner in Oracle technology.

The book vaguely mentions normalization, the examples are poorly thought out and too shallow to be of any value. If you're studying for the certification exam, this isn't the book you should buy.