Customer Reviews

SQL Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly))

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

"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.

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.

The SQL Pocket Guide: 2nd Edition "is an attempt to cram the most useful information about SQL into a pocket-size guide." That's the first sentence of the introduction and is the best description I can imagine for this helpful little book. The following platforms are included in this 2nd edition: Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (including Oracle Express Edition,) IBM DB2 Universal Database Release 8.2, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, MySQL 5.0, and PostgreSQL 8.1.

I'm not a full-time DBA. I'm an application developer and I frequently interact with various flavors of relational databases. I confess, I don't have all the syntax memorized. That's why this little book is so helpful. The book has good coverage of DML, common SQL functions and other related topics (e.g. NULLs, CASE expressions, datatype conversions, etc.) And, each topic is covered for each of the platforms mentioned above. It makes for an interesting comparison. The table of contents is organized nicely to allow the reader to quickly locate content by subject and there is also a detailed index in the back.

The 2nd edition of this book was published in April 2006. When you read reviews of the SQL Pocket Guide, make sure you are reading a review of the current edition. The 2nd edition has been updated for more current database releases. And, CREATE TABLE coverage and window functions have been added. Many of the changes were in direct response to feedback from the first edition.

As mentioned in other reviews, this book is not going to teach you SQL. It wasn't intended to. However, if you find that you're frequently (or even occasionally) looking up SQL syntax and if you need to create SQL statements that work with one or more of the platforms covered in this book, I highly recommend that you give this little helper a place in your bag.

Most people that work in SQL daily, don't need reminders of how to write join, correlate or update queries. But the other 10% of the work you do is where you run into trouble. You know you can do something, you just need to know the syntax. This little gem fills that bill nicely. Concise, clear and with a good index, SQL Pocket Guide gives you what you need. Complex functions are explained and it covers DB2, Oracle, SQL Server and MySQL with good depth. Indispensible.

"SQL Pocket Guide - 2nd Edition" is a short reference book for SQL DML (Data Manipulation Language), transaction control statements, datatypes, datatype conversion, table creation, and table modification. As the title indicates, this book is a "Pocket Guide" for the 4 major database platforms (Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL, and DB2). DO NOT EXPECT this book to be a complete reference or learning guide. Like most pocket guides, only people that already know the topic will find this text most useful. I own BOTH the 1st & 2nd editions. Due to my extensive use of the 1st edition, I purchased the 2nd edition released in 2006. This is the single most used book in my library! In fact, it is never on the book shelf! It's on my desk, in my bag, and travels with me on location. I work on a variety of database platforms with the 2 biggies being MS SQL Server & Oracle. I know the language, but at times can forget the exact syntax needed for the platform I'm working with. This book provides me with an extremely efficient way to "refresh" my memory and because it covers the 4 major platforms, I'm usually covered with this ONE small book.

The layout of the 2nd edition has been reorganized alphabetically by keyword and now covers: Oracle 10g including Oracle Express Ed, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, IBM DB2 release 8.2, MySQL 5.0, and PostgreSQL 8.1. As the layout of the 2nd edition has dramatically changed since the 1st edition and is now organized alphabetically by keyword (the keyword represented on each page is listed at the bottom of the page), you can quickly find the page you're looking for by flipping through the book and looking at the bottom right corner of the page. This is MUCH MUCH easier and faster! The new edition still has a very good Index, if you can't find what you're looking for on a flip-through pass.

Also new in the 2nd ed. is an extensive listing of datatypes, datatype conversions, and syntax variation for table creation and modification. This was a complaint in other reviews specific to the 1st ed., as missing. NOT SO in the new 2nd edition! PLEASE CHECK THE DATE OF THE REVIEW YOU'RE READING to ensure it pertains to the 2nd edition.

I was so impressed with this book... I actually bought TWO copies of the 2nd edition -- one for me and one for a co-worker -- AND passed my 1st edition on to another co-worker. For those "Now, how do I write that..." moments, this book can save you HOURS! I also like seeing the different examples and sample result sets for the different platforms. If the book doesn't cover what I'm looking for, I can always go to a more extensive reference book.

This book has been a lifesaver on many occasions. It gives you a syntax comparison between the major database vendors, and really, it would save you what can possibly be many hours of searching for an equivalent function when using a database you are not familiar with.

The content page is nicely grouped by SQL functionality; e.g. Literals, Joining Tables, Datatype Conversion etc. It was quite easy for me to look for the information I wanted.

It's also good for users who are learning databases in general; it gives quite a good overview of SQL functionalities.

Even if you're not working with multiple databases from multiple vendors, it makes a great SQL reference book.

I keep this book with me going from home to work and use it on a regular basis. It's is perfect for answering those "How does that work again?" questions. The clarity with which differences between SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle do things is a huge help in answering platform specific questions. It has enabled me to hand write SQL queries I never would have attempted before.

The SQL Pocket Guide (Pocket Guides) by Jonathan Gennick (O'Reilly, 2010) is a must have for the database butterfly. I move among several DBMS on an almost daily basis. Once in a while I need a refresh on how one flavor of SQL differs from another. In comes the Pocket Guide. The Guide covers the latest versions of DB2, MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Microsoft SQL Server. Gennick points out where commands and syntax vary from one platform to another and which commands are unique to certain platforms or versions. Examples of where these differences are tricky and where this book comes in handy are in areas like date/time and number conversion. This Guide is a short, abbreviated reference text which doesn't pretend to be a comprehensive reference. For comprehensive you will definitely want the SQL in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell (O'Reilly)).

While great for quick reference it is not intended to be a textbook. It can certainly be used as a refresher and has nice, short explanations of each command together with the examples. To find commands you will really want to already have an idea of what you are looking for and will need the table of contents and the index. If you are using an ebook format the search capability makes it an even handier reference text.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this text by the publisher for review.

I'm writing a review because of how impressed I've become with this over time. I have several SQL references and this gets used by far the most. I'm a big O'Reilly fan and I think I bought this title in addition to the Nutshell book because it was cheap and I also wanted multiple SQL reference books so I could have some at home as well as the office.

I at first assumed that the Pocket guide would be inferior to the Nutshell book but I've found the reverse to be true for me. The strengths of this book are passages are always straight to the point, with tons of examples, and ALWAYS is very clear on relevant differences between different flavors of SQL (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, & MySQL) without any blah blah blah.

For knuckleheads who have worked in so many languages that they can't remember any syntax anymore, and who prefer a good terse example to a big syntax tree, this reference is highly recommended.