Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (Teach Yourself in 10 Minutes)

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ben Forta has done a great job distilling the most pertinent basic SQL concepts into simple, easy to read form. Befitting its "10 minute" moniker, this is a wonderful book for new SQL programmers. But it's also subtly different in a way that will particularly suit folks coming into SQL for the first time as part of their involvement in using web database development tools such as ColdFusion and Active Server Pages.

One one level, any new SQL programmer using any DBMS will appreciate the easily digested coverage of the fundamental query and update basics. The books is well-written, an easy read, and goes beyond those basics without going too far.

Even moderately experienced readers will be well-served by the clear, simple discussions of important topics (like data manipulation and aggregating functions, grouping data, subqueries, views, etc) that can be easily forgotten, as well as other topics (such as using transactions, constraints, triggers, etc.) that can get lost in wading through other more voluminous tomes. Ben presents a very nice balance of fundamental topics.

But there's more to this book than being a simple intro to SQL. That audience of web db developers is an exploding one, and they bring some unique needs for which Ben provides a valuable perspective. Most SQL books have some DBMS-specific bias, despite SQL's purpose as a tool for accessing any kind of database in a consistent manner. Web application development environments like ASP and CF are also similarly database-agnostic. There are subtle points about using SQL in such environments that are different from using it, say, in a query builder or in a client/server environment.

Ben, who was lead author of the highly regarded ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit, presents the subjects in a manner suitable to such programmers and the way they'd code SQL and use its results, and he also sprinkles in discussions of how to take care of cross-platform issues on particular tasks, and often offers specific solutions for the most popular DBMS's used by that audience, such as Access, SQL Server, and Oracle.

On still another level, other books also get bogged down in issues of database design, creation, administration, security, etc. Important though those topics are, most development shops are growing to a point where those tasks are being handled by different people, and the developer who simply wants to code retrieval and update applications is challenged to find a good intro sql book that doesn't wade into detail on topics that they may not yet be able to understand, let alone ever need to perform. There are other great books that do cover those subjects, and readers would do well to seek those out as they progress in their learning.

It certainly makes it challenging to find (and no less to write) a SQL book. There are just so many potential audiences. For its intended purpose though, "Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes" is very well done. As in his previous books, Ben is right on the money--and for a very low price, at that!

I am only 13 years old and understood every line of this book!

This is a great book to get you started in database management using SQL. The format of the book is one I've never seen, I love it. He first explains a new concept, compares it to other previously learned concepts, and then gives an example. Following this he explains the example. There are lots of other things helpful in his technique as well, such as showing the examples for Oracle users (a Database management program).

The thing that I really like is the perfect balance of explanations and examples. It is hard to find a page in the book without at least one example.

Upsides to this book
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not to many words
easy to handle concepts
well written
great for beginners

Downsides to book
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Not the best book for reference, but not bad.
not for advanced SQL users

Over all, the best computer book I've ever read, don't hesitate to get yourself a copy.

This book is clearly aimed at the beginning SQL programmer with little or no knowledge of relational databases. It's a good intro that will quickly get the reader up to speed at writing some very simple queries and updates on an existing database.

However, in working with other programmers, I've learned that it's true about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing. If your only knowledge of SQL and relational databases comes from this book, you're in danger of missing out on some very basic information, such as how to normalize a database or perform an outer join.

If you learn SQL from this book, you'll quickly want to get another book on SQL that's more complete to fill you in on this missing critical information. Unless for some reason you need to start programming in SQL as soon as possible (in other words, before you understand what you're doing), just skip this book and buy just the more complete book.

If you are new to Database Application Design/Web Based Application Design, as I am, you will find this title most helpful in getting you off the ground. I bought this book in hopes that it would help me build SQL statements into my ASP pages, and it has done that and more. This book is an easy read and very clearly explains the basic concepts of the SQL language, techniques, capabilities, etc. It also offers a concise look into the way databases are designed and how they function. The book does a wonderful job of remaining non-proprietary, and is quick to point out when you are learning something that is specific to one Database Management System or another. This is a wonderful little book to add to your reference library if you wish to spend little and learn tons.

Structured Query Language (SQL), if it is a foreign tongue to you, after reading this book carefully, you'll speak SQL. From the start, the author explains the purpose of the language, to query relational databases, and he also defines what relational databases are. He covers how databases are tables of data containing columns and rows. In a well-organized sequence of chapters, he describes how each SQL command affects those rows and columns. My suggestion with the text is to divide its reading into two parts. If you're new to computer programming, read Chapters 1-16, then try an online free SQL tutorial on the Web for awhile. Once you get comfortable with searching for data, come back and do the last chapters, which have a programming emphasis. With constant practice, SQL programming can become straightforward and quick for you. The book has clear descriptions and is useful for the newcomer to SQL.

Great book for those who know nothing about SQL but need to get up to speed quickly. As a developer who just inherited 4 database driven projects, the book had helped immensely. Halfway through the book (page 90) you are doing advanced table joins!

Four things make this a must have for SQL beginners: easy to read chapters with great explanations (I found reading cover to cover more helpful than the '10 minute' per chapter approach), a focus on e-commerce implementations in all exercises/examples, caution boxes when MS SQL Server, Oracle, and others' code may differ - with examples of the differences, and lastly the completely populated e-commerce MS Access database is available for download.

Now on to the intermediate books!

If you are reading this book to learn, the examples provide easy understanding to the most common SQL statements for both selecting and manipulating data. Its worth trying the examples as a learning tool, and the scripts and populated Microsoft Access database is available from the authors web site (along with a few errata). If your using it as a reference, the nicely layed out contents, pages, and index provide for finding the information quickly. ASP programmers who are writing SQL to access databases for the web will particularly find this a useful guide to constructing the SQL SELECT statements to retrieve data. The book mentions more advanced features such as stored procedures and triggers which will at least give you a taste of things to learn. I suspect that as readers databases grow slower, however they may be searching for more information on indexing and keys.

I'm not a great fan of Sams books, but this little SQL book has made me say (for the first time) there is a truly great Sams offering.

If you are like me and feel that 400+ pages on a subject such as SQL is overkill (for the amount of SQL features most of us use), then this is the answer. It covers all of the most useful features of SQL with examples and analysis to a level that will enable effective application in the real world. It even points out proprietary differences in implementation (Oracle/Microsoft mainly).

If you are a beginner to SQL this book won't frighten you off (nor will it leave you baffled and confused by being too short a volume to effectively cover the subject - with SQL you can get away with such a small volume, basically because it's most used functions are very simple to understand and use). Some of the coverage will leave you needing (wanting?) to read more, in particular Transactions/Triggers and Stored Procedures will demand the purchase of much larger volumes to get full mileage from them. But for what it claims to be, SQL without the fluff or overkill, this book gives you in 208 small pages, what other volumes I have read give in 800 long and tedious pages.

Before I picked up this book, SQL and databases in general petrified me. But once I started reading it, I asked myself why I had waited so long to learn about SQL. Ben Forta 'demystifies' SQL and does it in a way that simplifies learning about this database language. True to its name, this is a book that can be read quickly.

Ben keeps all concepts clear and simple. By the time I'd finished the book, I had a basic understanding of SQL and realized my own fears had kept me from learning about it.

While I'm not ready to program in SQL, this book has now allowed me to at least be conversant in it and has given me a good general understanding about this database language.

This is indeed a rarity for computer books: a lot of good information in a compact format that plainly explains the basics of SQL and is easy on the wallet. In 3 years of buying computer books this is EASILY the best value I have ever gotten! I would recommend this book to anyone learning database programming for the first time, I wish I had had my hands on this book when I took VB database programming in college! Excellent book!