SQL Book
- Thread starter SirJinks
- Start date
Soldato
Honestly, is SQL really a big enough subject to need a book for?
https://www.sololearn.com is good + there is a phone app. Covers everything quickly.
Codecademy as well.
MS Virtual academy has some in-depth stuff on it.
If you really need a book check out the Head First series, very good at giving you a sound foundation to build on.
https://www.sololearn.com is good + there is a phone app. Covers everything quickly.
Codecademy as well.
MS Virtual academy has some in-depth stuff on it.
If you really need a book check out the Head First series, very good at giving you a sound foundation to build on.
Soldato
Learn by doing. Grab a sample database and go to town. Stack overflow and stuff like code
Pretty much agree. SQL is best to learn while doing.
Get a decent tutorial, get a decent sample database with a ton of data etc, and go to town
.
Pretty much agree. SQL is best to learn while doing.
Get a decent tutorial, get a decent sample database with a ton of data etc, and go to town
.
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Oct 2008
- Posts
- 5,951
Agree, learn while doing via googling. I've always struggled to find SQL and databases in general even slightly interesting but know enough to get by. Reading a book on SQL would be the ultimate bed time reading material 
.
If you feel you need a book though, like another poster I recommend the Head First series.
.If you feel you need a book though, like another poster I recommend the Head First series.
Sql is the easy bit, the hard part is knowing what to use when and why, not the actual language itself.
Sql is like lego, immensely powerful but you need to understand what you are trying to do before worrying about what parts you need.
What is your purpose for learning Sql?
Sql is like lego, immensely powerful but you need to understand what you are trying to do before worrying about what parts you need.
What is your purpose for learning Sql?
As previously noted, learning to write SQL is simple enough. You can use online resources such as W3Schools, youtube or MS virtual academy if you're simply looking to get a grounding for working with SQL.
Do you have put much thought into which implementation of SQL you wish to learn about? I.e. MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL etc?
The part that a lot of people seem to trip up on is that they pick up the SQL syntax, but then neglect to fully understand how the underlying engines work, and then find that their queries may perform poorly, or experience temperamental issues. That said, it's totally unrealistic to expect everybody who works with SQL to be of a certified master of the the system.
In terms of MSSQL, anything written, or co-authored by Itzik Ben-gan tend to be superb for gaining a solid foundation, but are not necessarily geared for someone with 0 prior knowledge. The problem with a lot of programming related books is that they tend to be quite a dry read, and this doubly applies for database related materials. From what limited experience I have of Oracle, the online documentation on their website does seem to be of a reasonable quality.
Do you have put much thought into which implementation of SQL you wish to learn about? I.e. MySQL, Oracle, MSSQL etc?
The part that a lot of people seem to trip up on is that they pick up the SQL syntax, but then neglect to fully understand how the underlying engines work, and then find that their queries may perform poorly, or experience temperamental issues. That said, it's totally unrealistic to expect everybody who works with SQL to be of a certified master of the the system.
In terms of MSSQL, anything written, or co-authored by Itzik Ben-gan tend to be superb for gaining a solid foundation, but are not necessarily geared for someone with 0 prior knowledge. The problem with a lot of programming related books is that they tend to be quite a dry read, and this doubly applies for database related materials. From what limited experience I have of Oracle, the online documentation on their website does seem to be of a reasonable quality.
Soldato
I've found SQL quite easy to pick up and use it daily now on our 45gb live database. Granted I am not doing anything serious on there but entering new details and modifying some existing sales orders etc.
As long as you can think logically then it should be relatively simple.
As long as you can think logically then it should be relatively simple.