Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes (2nd Edition)

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I generally don't write reviews of products unless they are fantastic or absolutely horrible. This is FANTASTIC.

If you have programming experience and some familiarity with MS Access, this is a great book for you. I was able to go through the entire thing in 8 hours, take notes and import 3500 records from an old database into a new one with much greater ease.

Pros:
-It differentiates between SQL Server, Oracle and the SQL specification on several examples.
-An introduction to advanced features is given in the last few chapters with examples.
-Small book allows quick scanning

Cons:
-Not very visual. Organization of information and the layout of it is done well, but as far as pictures go, they are absent.
-Title is somewhat deceiving, 10 minutes if you are only trying to find an example to use for reference.
-Not for those who have little or no programming experience. Explains functionality of code and the big picture. On more complex examples, details on sections of code are left out and assumed to be understood.

Buy this book. When I first purchased this book I knew just enough SQL to be dangerous. Since that time I have gone through the entire book (3 weeks) trying everything. I really needed this to work on a peoplesoft project so time was short. Its been great to be able to translate the examples in the book to real work situations. Its a must for someone who has had "some" exposure, but needs to write some sophisticated queries for work or school.

Ok, I would give it 4 1/2 if I could, but can't so I will round down. If you are learning SQL or are going to in a class room, this is a GREAT way to start, even before you start taking lessons. this book will break up learning into "10 minute" lessons, which the first few can be done thourghly in 5. (Possibly because I had already learned it but oh well). Anyway, if you go through every lesson seriously, you will walk away with a GOOD knowledge of SQL, take it from someone who uses SQL in the field.

I absolutely love this book. I'm fairly new to relational databases and SQL, and I can say quite honestly that this is one book that never leaves my computer's side. Any time I have to write a query that goes beyond simple SELECTs, I turn to Forta's book because it offers quick, concise, and useful information on getting the job done.

I've had the book for about 4 months and so far, I've been able to get answers that I can apply usefully in just minutes. It's worth repeating that I'm fairly new to all this, so my demands aren't necessarily all that great.

A word of caution to other database beginners: This is ***NOT*** a beginning book on databases. Forta offers about 5 pages on database rudiments, which won't be nearly enough unless you've been exposed to the material before. For instance, if you're not familiar with the term "normalization" or the ideas behind "one-to-many" or "many-to-many" relationships, you should bone up on your basics first.

If you need to learn about database basics (especially if you're using MS Access), I'd recommend "Inside Relational Databases" by Whitehorn and Marklyn.

This book is practical and is packed with useful examples. It builds slowly and clearly states all the various outcomes for each SQL example. I like this book namely because it keeps the various DBMSs in mind while plowing through each concept. Each lesson/chapter is about 10mins long - thus the title, but its long enough so that going back to review is not a chore. Keep in mind it is a beginner's book, but as a start its a great foundation.

I recommend that before you start with the first lesson you go straight to the Appendices and get the tables (structure and data) so that you can follow along with whatever tool you're working with (Access, SQL SERV 7, etc.). I've found this to be the best method of attack.

Bravo Ben Forta! Thanks for the help!

If you are a beginner, and have a database to practice SQL on, then this book is for you. If you have never created a database, you will need to in order to use this book. Trouble is, the book tells you how to create the database in Appendix A, and Appendix A is not very thorough. If you succeed in blindly creating your database, the book is excellent thereafter.

Some of the coding does not follow current ANSI standards, but it works.

I was an absolute raw beginner when I picked up this book. It served me well. Had I tried the companion "21 day" book by SAMS first, I would have quit trying before I learned SQL. Thankfully, I read this book first.

I searched for the smallest book on SQL, hoping to find a book that cut out the fluff and just gave me the essential information. I was coming from a programming perspective and didn't want a book that droned on and on about why I wanted to learn SQL, or how databases worked. I just wanted to learn how to write basic and not-so-basic SQL, and this is definitely the book. The pleasantly surprising part was that it actually does a great job of simply and directly explaining SQL, and it even serves as a passable reference once you've finished reading it.

I just can't say enough for the format of the book. Ben Forta has divided the book into short comprehensible chapters and then used short, direct explanations of the concepts, followed by several examples of increasing complexity that build on each other to introduce the finer points. I read this entire book on a 4-hour plane ride with time to spare. It was an easy read and there was no problem remembering it all. I can't imagine how to write a book to teach SQL either faster, easier or more effectively than this book does. I can't really say how my opinion of the book might be different if I came from a non-programming background, but for my money (and not much of it at that), this is the first SQL book anyone should buy.

Of the 7+ SQL books on my shelf, this little book is the most useful. The author has a great writing style that is easy to follow. He provides plenty of examples and doesn't waste time or pages with tons of extra info just to build the page count. I've learned more useful techniques from this book that any of the other SQL books I own. It's an excellent resource for beginner and intermediate developers and might be a good refresher for some advanced developers.

I work on the web 5 days a week for a living - and some code is only used now and then - this book is a great refresher for those little things you do not use often.

It is a good book for people learning SQL too - one thing that is very handy is the SQL Reserved Words List...

This book is to the point.

You will get out of this book more than many of those books with too many words and errors.... Great Book - I told other programing friends about this book they bought it and they use it often too.

I am new to SQL and bought this book because of the "10 minutes" fast learning part. It does deliver what it promises. It is easy to read with very good hands-on examples. I downloaded the examples from the authors website and is using MS Query to test the examples. If you want to learn the basics of SQL and start being productive in no time, this is a great book.