Customer Reviews

SQL in a Nutshell: A Desktop Quick Reference

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book is designed as a reference -- the book that you keep
near your workstation after you learn the basics, because you
haven't got everything memorised yet. It's great for that. I
refer to it when I have a question.

But actually I picked up this book with no prior knowledge of
SQL (except that I knew it was for doing database stuff) and
learned enough to get started in a couple of days. The intro
is great for that.

The great thing about this book is that it covers the four
major SQL implementations in a relatively unbiased fashion.
This is nice because if you switch from one to another you
don't have to go looking for a new book. (Otherwise, you
would; as you will see from reading this book, the various
implementations differ considerably and also differ from
the unimplemented standard, which the book also covers.)

This book is not, and is not intended to be, a tutorial for
people who are utterly unfamiliar with the very concept of
a database, but it's okay to be utterly unfamiliar with SQL.

This book also is not a strategy guide for how to plan and
organise your database; this is an _implementation_ book.
As such, it doesn't cover things like deciding which data
to put in which table, when to create another table and
when to create an entirely separate database, or that sort
of thing. What it does tell you is what query syntax you
need to create and interact with your database, your tables,
and the data in your tables. It also explains datatypes,
because they vary considerably between the different SQL
implementations, and table types and the various attributes
(indeces and whatnot).

Additionally, this book is not a security guide. It does
include information about permissions, but only in terms of
the syntax used, not in terms of strategy.

I have to question whether any of the other reviewers even looked at the table of contents before purchasing this book:

Chapter 1. SQL, Vendor Implementations, and Some History - a general overview of SQL and where it comes from;

Chapter 2. Foundational Concepts - The general theory behind how a sql works;

Chapter 3. SQL Statements Command Reference - "Quick SQL Command Reference";

Chapter 4. SQL Functions - A standard function reference and vendor extensions;

Chapter 5. Unimplemented SQL99 Commands - commands in the sql standard which aren't implemented by vendors (MS, Oracle);

So as to what it says it covers, it does it quite well. Already being quite familiar with SQl, I still found this book to be useful both as a quick reference to commands as well as for a deeper understanding into how SQL works. This book makes an excellent companion to Transact-SQL Programming, also by Oreilly. If you need a complete SQL reference, get Transact-SQL. If you're looking for a background and introduction to SQL, get this book.

Expanded 2nd Edition (more than 3x larger!)

fyi ... Amazon is including here reviews from both 1st and current 2nd edition. 1st Edition was a "slim" 224 pages (released December 1, 2000 per Amazon). 2nd Edition is 800 pages (released September 27, 2004 per Amazon). From 224 to 800 pages ... hmmm, quite a change!

Per OReilly.com, current 2nd edition covers commercial RDBMS (Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server), and open source implementations (PostgreSQL, and MySQL). fyi, 1st edition did not cover DB2.

2nd Edition is updated to use the most current ANSI standard, SQL2003, as the baseline in comparing each of the RDBMS.

Sample chapter available at OReilly.com. Chapter 4, SQL Functions. As PDF, 28 pages.

To a certain degree I agree with the reviewer who says that SQL in a Nutshell is a "thin" book; it is a command reference for four different RDMSs. But to slam it because it is not a full set of docs is to misread SQL in a Nutshell's purpose; it is designed as a cross-platform reference guide for people like me who are not experts and have to move between RDMS implementations (including desktop apps). Twenty pages out of two hundred on SELECT shows how important the command actually is across platforms.

In fact, SQL in a Nutshell's great virtue is that it finally levels the playing field by putting PostgreSQL and MySQL, the popular open source RDMS, on the same level with MS SQL Server and Oracle, each of which easily has its own market for high-end manuals and guides, while open source apps are freely available online.

So, if you need full documentation on your favorite RDMS, go ahead and spend a couple of hundred dollars somewhere else. If you want a handy reference, simple explanations and comparisons, and an easy to read introduction to the four most important RDMSs currently available, pick up SQL in a Nutshell. You won't be disappointed.

Contrary to several reviewers, this book is *not* well-suited to its purpose, especially compared to O'Reilly's usual high standards. You often can't find things quickly, and the information is often just not there. This is particularly true of the book's main claim to fame, the myriad of small differences between database products. Some examples: (1) The book explains that some databases use "!=" instead of the standard SQL not-equal operator, "<>". Which databases? Do they support both operators, or just "!="? The book doesn't say. (2a) The book doesn't tell you that MySQL doesn't support subqueries in SELECT statements -- even though there's a subsection on "MySQL Syntax and Variations" for SELECT statements. (And yes, I do need to know -- I'm working on a software product that supports every database in the book plus several others.) (2b) The index has no entries for subqueries under any conceivable heading: queries, nested queries, subqueries, or SELECT. So you can spend quite a long time *trying* to find out which databases support subqueries. (Most do.) (3) The table of contents has a glaring typo, that makes you wonder what else got past the proofreaders and fact-checkers. Chapter 3, "SQL Statements Command Reference" doesn't have sub-headings for individual commands or groups of commands ... except for one: "DROP Statements", which are supposedly discussed for 70 pages, a third of the book. If O'Reilly was in such a rush to get the book out that they didn't notice this, how can you have confidence in the book's accuracy?

When I first saw this book I was perhaps a little doubtful it would be any good. It certainly is slimline when put on the shelf against my other O'Reilly Nutshell titles. I found it hard to believe that SQL in a Nutshell covers the SQL syntax of no less than 4 databases (Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL), but when you actually see the way that it's been put together, it all makes perfect sense.

Rather than having seperate sections for each of the SQL dielects, all statements and functions are listed together with any vendor specific information noted where needed. The main advantage of this style of organisation is that it helps you to identify any problems with portability between the databases you may be having.

As can be expected with any Nutshell book, the history of SQL is discussed along with all the basic ideas and concepts that go with it. Even if you don't use one of the databases talked about in the the book, you are sure to be able to make good use of it as it makes frequent reference to the SQL standard.

This is a solid desk reference for SQL syntax which provides invaluable material on the portability of each type of statement. The heart of the book is the four hundred pages of statement reference. Each statement is described with it's syntax and options. Then the support for each database (DB2, MySQL, Oracle, PostgresSQL, and SQL Server) is described in detail. There is a similar 120 page reference on SQL functions.

This is classic O'Reilly. The text is well written, and the book is very dense and well organized. There is a little introductory material but the heart of the book is the statement and function reference. You will get the most out of this book if you already have a reasonable understanding of SQL. This is not a book for beginners.

This would make an ideal desktop reference, particularly for someone working in a cross-platform environment that goes directly to the SQL.

There are a lot of books available about using SQL with Relational Database Management Systems.
You can find books that tell you how to do SQL with Oracle, how to do it with MS-SQL, with MySQL and so on, but hardly any of those books tell you when you are using a vendor specific feature, left alone what the SQL Standard would be.
So when switching to another database system one is often suprised how this system thinks SQL should be done.
If you are working with different systems at the same time, you are often left on your own.
Reading the documentation of the one system, comparing it with the documentation of the other system, can cost you a lot of time.
But a nice little book comes to your rescue, SQL in a Nutshell.

What SQL in a Nutshell offers is a reference of all SQL99 Statements and functions. For every statement it shows you what the syntax should be according to the SQL99 Standard and how Oracle, MS-SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL implement them. How they differ from the standard, if the support a feature, if the support it with variations or if the do not support it at all. By the way, that the vendors stick to the standard is the exception.
True, you could get all these information from reading the standard documents and the vendor manuals, but it is so much easier and faster to have it all right there in a single book as a desktop reference.
So if you are using more than one of the covered database management systems this book will save you a lot of time and is well worth its money.

I love this book. I don't use it exclusively, but to support the other SQL books and reference manuals I have. This book helps me identify and understand the differences between the various systems and to write portable code. Most of SQL books and reference manuals don't provide any information about the portability, but by cross referencing with the nutshell book I can understand the impact of any given feature to my code's portability.

You probably need three books:

- your favorite SQL tutorial to figure out that latest join problem

- your system's reference manual to understand the specific's on everything

- the nutshell book to know if your code will work any place else

This book probably isn't appropriate if:

- you use one system exclusively and portability is a low priority -- you are probably better off with your system's reference manual

- you are looking for a comprehensive reference manual/tutorial that describes everything

SQL Server 2000, MySQL, Oracle 8i, and PostgreSQL 7.0 implementations of the SQL-99 standard are covered in this desktop reference to SQL syntax. The contents include a short history, concepts, statements (the bulk of the book) and functions, as well as an appendix with a helpful list of SQL and vendor-specific keywords.

This book is meant, as its subtitle states, as a "desktop quick reference", and indeed, its strengths are the ease of reference and the handy comparison among the SQL-99 and vendor implementations. There are weaknesses to the book, such as when researching a particular statement, the description and statement can appear quite cryptic at times. But in spite of its uneven quality, and because of the fact of a multi-database world, this reference is a serviceable addition to anyone's library.