Mastering Oracle SQL

I haven't got to go deep into the book yet but what I saw was pretty good content but it's not a beginner book.

The goal of the authors is to explain how to write good readable SQL queries in Oracle 10g. The book starts with how to construct SELECT statements to group, filter and format result sets for dates, reports and data analysis. Then it proceeds to cover Oracle-specific queries and functions for hierarchies (data in tree structures), object-oriented types, XML documents, regular expressions and models (spreadsheet-like objects). Where relevant, there are notes about the differences between SQL for Oracle 10, Oracle 9 and the ANSI standard. As expected from the title, the chapters using declarative programming (i.e. SQL queries) for relational data, hierarchical data and reports are the most comprehensive. Chapters on interfacing Oracle SQL with other technologies such as scripting (Oracle's PL/SQL), object-oriented types, XML and regular expressions, or on optimization, are brief but sufficient to get you started, especially if you have a existing background in those technologies. This is the 2nd edition, so it's not surprising that the scope of the book is well-defined and that the writing is easy to read and polished. The example data and queries are just complex enough to demonstrate the issues without obscuring the main points. Minor annoyance about Chapter 15, "SQL Best Practices", which does not explain how to use the query analyzer and bind variables. I was already familiar with basic Oracle SQL but didn't really understand the language; this book blew away many of the fuzzy concepts in my mind and provided me the framework to tackle more complex problems. Kam-Hung Soh, 21 May 2007. [...]

The collaborative work of Oracle experts Sanjay Mishra and Alan Beaulieu, Mastering Oracle SQL is now in an expanded and updated second edition covering Oracle Database 10g. An extensive reference, meant for the experienced programmer looking to elevate his or her skill in Oracle SQL to the point of expertise, Mastering Oracle SQL especially focuses upon the software's strengths such as regular expressions, interrow calculations, recursive queries, analytic and advanced GROUP BY functions, and more. Examples, sample code, and detailed walkthroughs for applying Oracle SQL to given tasks and challenges make Mastering Oracle SQL a practical and thorough tool for independent study and professional use.

There are a lot of SQL books out there and this one is by no means the "fattest" but if your goal is querying or anything to do with business intelligence, this one is the best. It covers basic queries to advanced queries such as subqueries, CASE statement, and the newer analytic functions. The examples are great.

If you use Oracle SQL on a regular basis, and are looking for more power without turning to procedural SQL, greater understanding of what's possible with Oracle SQL, and overall greater mastery of the language, then this book definitely deserves a place in your library. A beginner might find him/herself a bit overwhelmed with the depth of the book, but with effort, the knowledge gained from it will prove invaluable. Those already familiar with Oracle and SQL, will still find it very enlightening and enabling.One very nice feature in the book is how the authors are very good to point out gotchas you might encounter, and particularly workarounds to limitations in Oracle's implementation of SQL. In this way the book falls squarely into the role for which it was intended, i.e., mastering the topic--knowing the inherent strengths and shortcomings of the product, and how to leverage the strengths while working around the shortcomings.Throughout the book the authors include coverage on new features availble in Oracle 9i, and they are very careful to point out which features covered are available in the various older releases of Oracle (as well as which ones are not).Mastering Oracle SQL passes the practicality and timeliness rating with flying colors. I've already been able to use several tricks I've learned from the book to great advantage in my daily work.In summary, if you want to get beyond the simple examples in most books covering SQL, and a better overall picture than what the references and the Oracle documentation have to offer, Mastering Oracle SQL will be an invaluable tool in your hands.With respect to the lack of an example database mentioned in other reviews, the authors have now posted a zip file in the 'Examples' section of the book's web site ... which includes sql to create and populate the example database used in the book.