SQL: 1999 - Understanding Relational Language Components (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) [Paperback]

Jim Melton (Author), Alan R. Simon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 1558604561 | ISBN-13: 978-1558604568 | Edition: 1

This book is the best way to make the leap from SQL-92 to SQL:1999, but it is much more than just a simple bridge between the two. The latest from celebrated SQL experts Jim Melton and Alan Simon, SQL:1999 is a comprehensive, eminently practical account of SQL's latest incarnation and a potent distillation of the details required to put it to work. Written to accommodate both novice and experienced SQL users, SQL:1999 focuses on the language's capabilities, from the basic to the advanced, and the ways that real applications take advantage of them. Throughout, the authors illustrate features and techniques with clear and often entertaining references to their own custom database, which can be downloaded from the companion Web site.

* Gives authoritative coverage from an expert team that includes the editor of the SQL-92 and SQL:1999 standards.
* Provides a general introduction to SQL that helps you understand its constituent parts, history, and place in the realm of computer languages.
* Explains SQL:1999's more sophisticated features, including advanced value expressions, predicates, advanced SQL query expressions, and support for active databases.
* Explores key issues for programmers linking applications to SQL databases.
* Provides guidance on troubleshooting, internationalization, and changes anticipated in the next version of SQL.
* Contains appendices devoted to database design, a complete SQL:1999 example, the standardization process, and more.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This book is the best way to make the leap from SQL-92 to SQL:1999, but it is much more than just a simple bridge between the two. The latest from celebrated SQL experts Jim Melton and Alan Simon, SQL:1999 is a comprehensive, eminently practical account of SQL's latest incarnation and a potent distillation of the details required to put it to work. Written to accommodate both novice and experienced SQL users, SQL:1999 focuses on the language's capabilities, from the basic to the advanced, and the ways that real applications take advantage of them. Throughout, the authors illustrate features and techniques with clear and often entertaining references to their own custom database, which can be downloaded from the companion Web site.

Features

• Gives authoritative coverage from an expert team that includes the editor of the SQL-92 and SQL:1999 standards.
  
• Provides a general introduction to SQL that helps you understand its constituent parts, history, and place in the realm of computer languages.
  
• Explains SQL:1999's more sophisticated features, including advanced value expressions, predicates, advanced SQL query expressions, and support for active databases.
  
• Explores key issues for programmers linking applications to SQL databases.
  
• Provides guidance on troubleshooting, internationalization, and changes anticipated in the next version of SQL.
  
• Contains appendices devoted to database design, a complete SQL:1999 example, the standardization process, and more.

About the Author

Jim Melton is editor of all parts of ISO/IEC 9075 (SQL) and is a representative for database standards at Oracle Corporation. Since 1986, he has been his company's representative to ANSI INCITS Technical Committee H2 for Database and a US representative to ISO/IEC JTC1/SC32/WG3 (Database Languages). In addition, Jim has participated in the W3C's XML Query Working Group since 1998 and is currently co-Chair of that Working Group. He is also Chair of the WG's Full-Text Task Force, co-Chair of the Update Language Task Force, and co-editor of two XQuery-related specifications. He is the author of several SQL books.

Alan Simon is a leading authority on data warehousing and database technology. He is the author of 26 books, including the previous edition of this book and the forthcoming Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence for e-Commerce, available from Morgan Kaufmann Publishers in early 2001. He currently provides data warehousing-related consulting services to clients.

Product Details

• Paperback: 893 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 1 edition (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558604561
• ISBN-13: 978-1558604568
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,221,666 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important book on SQL, August 30, 2001

By 

Bryan J. Higgs (Milford, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: SQL: 1999 - Understanding Relational Language Components (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Paperback)

This is an important book. Most books on SQL cover simple SQL statements, and/or focus on a particular vendor's SQL implementation. Very few books attempt to cover the SQL standard in any depth, if at all. This one does. Furthermore, because one of the authors (Jim Melton) is the editor of the ISO SQL Standards Committee, the book is extremely authoritative on the subject.
The SQL:1999 standard can be an overwhelming document, both because of its size (it surely must be the largest of the language standards?) and because of its formal language (not bedtime reading by any means!). This book provides a much more accessible description of the contents of that standard, and it is sorely needed.
While the authors' writing style is very readable, don't expect this book to be a beginner's guide to SQL; that's not its intent. The book goes into great detail about SQL statements, and their operations. If you already know something about the basics of SQL and wish to learn much more about the language (and indeed, some features in the standard not yet implemented in most database vendors' products), this is the book to get.
In the interests of full disclosure, I should say that I know Jim Melton personally. I have the highest respect for him; his knowledge on the subject of SQL is positively encyclopedic.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great introduction to the concepts of SQL:1999, February 10, 2004

By 

Jonathan W. Robie (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: SQL: 1999 - Understanding Relational Language Components (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Paperback)

The SQL:1999 standard was not written to teach people how to use the language. It is written in a precise, formal manner that is very useful for implementors, but makes it difficult for most people to read, and assumes extensive knowledge of many concepts. (I am an editor of several W3C XQuery specifications - you can't write a specification as a tutorial, that's not what it is for.)

Jim is the editor of SQL:1999, but in this book he provides the concepts and the examples that users need to understand the standard. Unlike many books on SQL, Jim describes the SQL standard, rather than the proprietary dialect of a given vendor. This book is readable and interesting, explaining not only what the standard says, but how the standard thinks.

I work for a company that makes JDBC and ODBC drivers, and this is the book that our development manager recommended to me when I was looking for this kind of information.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good,but........., January 24, 2007

By 

Galileo2010 "Galileo2010" (Tampa,FL) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: SQL: 1999 - Understanding Relational Language Components (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Paperback)

It is a very good coverage of SQL standard, but I didn't like the style of writing. Just like many SQL books you have to spend some time looking at the sample database in order to understand the concept.This to me is a waste of time and annoying.The difference is clear if you compare it to other books like Date's "Introduction to Database Systems".