Oracle SQL Interactive Workbook

I teach college computer classes, although my BA & MA are in linguistics. The only computer course I've actually taken was a non-credit course in Oracle SQL. I was pretty satisfied with it. I'm only in lab 2 of 16 in this book, and have already learned MANY new things! It's very well written, giving you a little, testing you a little, etc. I strongly recommend it.

Could you master a foreign language with a reference work? If so, then this book is not for you because you're already a guru. Oracle Press books handle that nicely. SQL is analogous to a foreign language, and most people learn foreign languages through extensive exercises that build towards mastery. This book does that, and, as such, there's little out there that compares. If you patiently enter every SQL query in this book and break it down into its constituent parts, examine each query's output, do every exercise even if it means looking at the solution as you solve it, complete every "Test Your Thinking" exercise, redo chapters 4, 5, and 7 at every opportunity, and think, this book will become the most extensive SQL reference work you can imagine--that's right SQL, not simply Oracle's implementation of it. This is because this book shows you how to apply SQL in ways you may not have imagined (my brain still hurts). The drawbacks: (1) Oracle dbase software required for the companion dbase--don't get this book if you don't have access to Oracle because it relies on intimate knowledge of the companion dbase, (2) dizziness from the frequency of your hand smacking your forehead when asking yourself "Why didn't I think of that"? The prose is succinct and elegant in its clarity except for chapter 7, where the need for and role of correlative subqueries, inline views, and scalar subquery expressions and the theory behind them could have been explicated better, particularly where and when they can/should substitute for equijoins. Specifically, a one-stop-shopping set of guidelines as to when these types of subqueries are desirable over their equijoin counterparts would have been very helpful.

I really liked reading and doing the lessons in this book. The hands-on exercises are fantastic. Better yet, there were a few things I didn't understand clearly, and so I e-mail the author and she answers any questions that I might have. There are a few minor glitches in the book, some proof-read errors, which most of them are corrected on their web site which are listed on theot errata page. I've already reported a couple errors that I found and will update their proof-read error page. One annoying thing was having to turn back and forth to the back of the book to see the database schema diagram. The best thing to do is just photo copy the diagram so you don't have to constantly turn to the back of the book while doing the exercises.

I really liked reading and doing the lessons in this book. The hands-on exercises are fantastic. Better yet, there were a few things I didn't understand clearly, and so I e-mailed the author and she answered any questions that I had. There are a few minor glitches in the book, some proof-read errors, which most of them are corrected on their web site which are listed on the errata page. I've already reported a couple errors that I found and they will update their proof-read error page. One annoying thing was having to turn back and forth to the back of the book to see the database schema diagram. The best thing to do is just photo copy the diagram so you don't have to constantly turn to the back of the book while doing the exercises.

If you want to learn Oracle SQL, then go ahead and buy this book. The learning modules are short and bite-sized which facilitates the learning process. The best aspect of this program is the hands-on learning process. When you finish this program you will indeed know Oracle SQL. This is the best book available for learning Oracle SQL.