SQL in a Nutshell

This is a solid desk reference for SQL syntax which provides invaluable material on the portability of each type of statement. The heart of the book is the four hundred pages of statement reference. Each statement is described with it's syntax and options. Then the support for each database (DB2, MySQL, Oracle, PostgresSQL, and SQL Server) is described in detail. There is a similar 120 page reference on SQL functions. This is classic O'Reilly. The text is well written, and the book is very dense and well organized. There is a little introductory material but the heart of the book is the statement and function reference. You will get the most out of this book if you already have a reasonable understanding of SQL. This is not a book for beginners. This would make an ideal desktop reference, particularly for someone working in a cross-platform environment that goes directly to the SQL.

This book is designed as a reference -- the book that you keep near your workstation after you learn the basics, because youhaven't got everything memorised yet. It's great for that. Irefer to it when I have a question.But actually I picked up this book with no prior knowledge ofSQL (except that I knew it was for doing database stuff) andlearned enough to get started in a couple of days. The introis great for that. The great thing about this book is that it covers the fourmajor SQL implementations in a relatively unbiased fashion.This is nice because if you switch from one to another youdon't have to go looking for a new book. (Otherwise, youwould; as you will see from reading this book, the variousimplementations differ considerably and also differ fromthe unimplemented standard, which the book also covers.) This book is not, and is not intended to be, a tutorial forpeople who are utterly unfamiliar with the very concept ofa database, but it's okay to be utterly unfamiliar with SQL.This book also is not a strategy guide for how to plan andorganise your database; this is an _implementation_ book.As such, it doesn't cover things like deciding which datato put in which table, when to create another table and when to create an entirely separate database, or that sortof thing. What it does tell you is what query syntax youneed to create and interact with your database, your tables,and the data in your tables. It also explains datatypes, because they vary considerably between the different SQLimplementations, and table types and the various attributes(indeces and whatnot). Additionally, this book is not a security guide. It does include information about permissions, but only in terms ofthe syntax used, not in terms of strategy.

There are a lot of books available about using SQL with Relational Database Management Systems.You can find books that tell you how to do SQL with Oracle, how to do it with MS-SQL, with MySQL and so on, but hardly any of those books tell you when you are using a vendor specific feature, left alone what the SQL Standard would be.So when switching to another database system one is often suprised how this system thinks SQL should be done.If you are working with different systems at the same time, you are often left on your own.Reading the documentation of the one system, comparing it with the documentation of the other system, can cost you a lot of time. But a nice little book comes to your rescue, SQL in a Nutshell.What SQL in a Nutshell offers is a reference of all SQL99 Statements and functions. For every statement it shows you what the syntax should be according to the SQL99 Standard and how Oracle, MS-SQL Server, MySQL and PostgreSQL implement them. How they differ from the standard, if the support a feature, if the support it with variations or if the do not support it at all. By the way, that the vendors stick to the standard is the exception.True, you could get all these information from reading the standard documents and the vendor manuals, but it is so much easier and faster to have it all right there in a single book as a desktop reference.So if you are using more than one of the covered database management systems this book will save you a lot of time and is well worth its money.

To a certain degree I agree with the reviewer who says that SQL in a Nutshell is a "thin" book; it is a command reference for four different RDMSs. But to slam it because it is not a full set of docs is to misread SQL in a Nutshell's purpose; it is designed as a cross-platform reference guide for people like me who are not experts and have to move between RDMS implementations (including desktop apps). Twenty pages out of two hundred on SELECT shows how important the command actually is across platforms.In fact, SQL in a Nutshell's great virtue is that it finally levels the playing field by putting PostgreSQL and MySQL, the popular open source RDMS, on the same level with MS SQL Server and Oracle, each of which easily has its own market for high-end manuals and guides, while open source apps are freely available online.So, if you need full documentation on your favorite RDMS, go ahead and spend a couple of hundred dollars somewhere else. If you want a handy reference, simple explanations and comparisons, and an easy to read introduction to the four most important RDMSs currently available, pick up SQL in a Nutshell. You won't be disappointed.