SQL Pocket Guide [Paperback]

Jonathan Gennick (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0596005121 | ISBN-13: 978-0596005122 | Publication Date: April 5, 2004 | Edition: 1

This pocket guide presents the most crucial information about SQL in a compact and easily accessible format, covering the four commonly used SQL variants--Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and MySQL. Topics include:

• Data manipulation statements (SELECT, DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE, MERGE) and transaction control statements (START TRANSACTION, SAVEPOINT, COMMIT, ROLLBACK).
• Common SQL functions (date, numeric, math, trigonometric, string, conversion, aggregate)
• Such topics as literals, NULLs, CASE expressions, datatype conversion, regular expressions, grouping and summarizing data, joining tables, and writing queries (hierarchical, recursive, union, flashback) and subqueries.
• Instead of presenting complex and confusing syntax diagrams, the book teaches by example, showing the SQL statements and options that readers are most like to use. All example data is available on the O'Reilly web site.

"If you need fast, accurate SQL information, with examples for multiple database engines, be sure to check out this book." --Chris Kempster, Senior DBA and author of SQL Server 2000 for the Oracle DBA, www.chriskempster.com

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jonathan Gennick is an O'Reilly & Associates editor specializing in database and programming titles. Prior to joining O'Reilly, Jonathan amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience. During the latter part of his career he specialized in relational database programming, and more recently in database management. Jonathan got his start with relational database systems in 1990, first working with Ingres, and later with Digital's Rdb software. During that period he developed a fondness for SQL, and for the challenge of applying SQL creatively in ways that leveraged it's set-oriented capabilities. In 1994 Jonathan made the leap to Oracle, and is now often found writing about it. Recent projects include Oracle SQLLoader (O'Reilly & Associates, 2001); Oracle SQLPlus Pocket Reference (O'Reilly & Associates, 2000); Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly & Associates, 1999); More recently, Jonathan has made forays into other database products, coauthoring Transact-SQL Cookbook (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002) and editing Practical PostgreSQL (O'Reilly & Associates, 2002). Jonathan is certified as an Oracle DBA and is a member of MENSA and the Oracle Technology Network. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information and Computer Science, with a Business Administration minor, from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. Jonathan currently resides in Munising, Michigan with his wife Donna and their two children: Jenny and Jeff. Jonathan may be contacted by email at [e-mail], and you can learn more about him personally by visiting his website at http://gennick.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1 edition (April 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596005121
• ISBN-13: 978-0596005122
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,421,376 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I am an Oracle DBA, computer book editor, and writer residing in Munising, Michigan, and only six

blocks from Lake Superior. If you want to know more about me, please visit http://Gennick.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Bad, not Great, November 20, 2004

By 

Jase T. Wolfe - See all my reviews

This review is from: SQL Pocket Guide (Paperback)

Its a pocket guide on just the data manipulation components of the SQL language for the 4 major versions (Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL and DB2) - you can't judge this as a complete reference or learning guide. As SQL data manipulation has only a finite set of keywords and a fairly strict syntax, its hard to go wrong. Like most pocket guides, only people that already know the topic should purchase. As this title only covers data manipulation and not definition language control language (for example, page 112 does list the CREATE TABLE keywords, but as a secondary example and not a true reference), if you are looking for a complete reference guide to all things SQL, this is not your title.

The biggest problem I had with this book is it's organization and layout. Unlike other keyword guides that organize keyword references alphabetically, any time you need to refresh your memory on a specific keyword you have to find it first in the back index as this guide organizes by topic (Inserting Tables, Deleting Data, Predicates, etc.). The topic-oriented structure would be better served in a learning text, or as a secondary table of content for a larger reference guide. Once you do find your keyword's page, the actual layout of the text can make it difficult to quickly identify the topic, keyword, and target vendor. If you're going to run everything together in very similar font sizes and weights without a page break, a few horizontal lines and inverse text won't kill you.

Definitely a useful reference book if you're on the go and need to carry a reminder with you, but as a day to day desktop reference, there are other guides which provide more complete reference as well as better formatting.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars DML short reference for ORACLE, DB2, SQL Server and MySQL, May 21, 2004

By 

Gregor Theis (Meerbusch Deutschland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SQL Pocket Guide (Paperback)

"SQL Pocket Guide" is a short reference book for SQL DML (Data Manipulation Language = insert, update, delete, select verbs) and derived statements (merge in ORACLE, replace in MySQL is missing) for the following databases:
- ORACLE (9i und 10g)
- DB2
- SQL Server
- MySQL
Jonathan Gennick explains the ANSI SQL commands and the special implementations of the different databases. For every statement you will find at least one example that can be tested on Jonathan's example data (available from the O'Reilly website). This book does NOT describe the DDL (e.g. create table) or DCL (e.g. grant) statements of the respective databases. Maybe this book should have been named "SQL (DML) pocket guide" to avoid different expectations.

Being an ORACLE person, I can not comment much on the correctness of the information about the other databases, however I found it quite interesting to see the comparison (ORACLE seems to implement most options).

I found the organization of the book a bit strange when I read it from cover to back (I would have placed type conversions and literals together). If you are using this book as a reference this should not concern you because I found the index to be very good. A chapter numbering (or bigger differences in the font size for the chapter levels) would have made it easier for me to keep track of the subchapter level while reading.

The coverage of the DML statement's possibilities is quite high and lots of exceptions are covered. I (re)learned a lot of things like WITH in ORACLE, NVL2, CASE statement, RETURNING with UPDATE, INSERT und DELETE when I read this book.

I will continue to use this book as a starting point when I don't remember how to use a certain SQL/DML feature (reference lookup). "SQL Pocket Reference" already saved a colleague of mine valuable hours (because I just reread about the MERGE statement). You will not be able to learn SQL with this book but you will probably save some time with it, if you write DML a lot.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent LITTLE Book, July 1, 2005

By 

Randy Given (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: SQL Pocket Guide (Paperback)

This is an excellent LITTLE book. With books from O'Reilly or Wiley, you can usually rest assured that it is worth your money. This one certainly is. I bought two -- one for work and one for home. I also bought "SQL in a Nutshell" which is more extensive but much larger (but not a tome). For those quick now-how-do-I-write-that-stupid-little-sql-statement moments, this is the ticket.