Books to Learn How to Program in SQL

You know the rudiments of the SQL query language, yet you feel you aren't taking full advantage of SQL's expressive power. You'd like to learn how to do more work with SQL inside the database before pushing data across the network to your applications. You'd like to take your SQL skills to the next level.

Let's face it, SQL is a deceptively simple language to learn, and many database developers never go far beyond the simple statement: SELECT columns FROM table WHERE conditions. But there is so much more you can do with the language. In the SQL Cookbook, experienced SQL developer Anthony Molinaro shares his favorite SQL techniques and features. You'll learn about:

• Window functions, arguably the most significant enhancement to SQL in the past decade. If you're not using these, you're missing out
• Powerful, database-specific features such as SQL Server's PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators, Oracle's MODEL clause, and PostgreSQL's very useful GENERATE_SERIES function
• Pivoting rows into columns, reverse-pivoting columns into rows, using pivoting to facilitate inter-row calculations, and double-pivoting a result set
• Bucketization, and why you should never use that term in Brooklyn.
• How to create histograms, summarize data into buckets, perform aggregations over a moving range of values, generate running-totals and subtotals, and other advanced, data warehousing techniques
• The technique of walking a string, which allows you to use SQL to parse through the characters, words, or delimited elements of a string

Written in O'Reilly's popular Problem/Solution/Discussion style, the SQL Cookbook is sure to please. Anthony's credo is: "When it comes down to it, we all go to work, we all have bills to pay, and we all want to go home at a reasonable time and enjoy what's still available of our days." The SQL Cookbook moves quickly from problem to solution, saving you time each step of the way.

For anyone writing SQL in a professional environment, this book presents a compendium of solutions that readers can immediately apply to commonly-faced, real-world data query and manipulation problems.

The Definitive Guide to SQL

Get comprehensive coverage of every aspect of SQL from three leading industry experts. Revised with coverage of the latest RDBMS software versions, this one-stop guide explains how to build, populate, and administer high-performance databases and develop robust SQL-based applications.

SQL: The Complete Reference, Third Edition shows you how to work with SQL commands and statements, set up relational databases, load and modify database objects, perform powerful queries, tune performance, and implement reliable security policies. Learn how to employ DDL statements and APIs, integrate XML and Java scripts, use SQL objects, build web servers, handle remote access, and perform distributed transactions. Techniques for managing in-memory, stream, and embedded databases that run on today's mobile, handheld, and wireless devices are included in this in-depth volume.

• Build SQL-based relational databases and applications
• Create, load, and modify database objects using SQL
• Construct and execute simple, multitable, and summary queries
• Implement security measures with authentication, privileges, roles, and views
• Handle database optimization, backup, recovery, and replication
• Work with stored procedures, functions, extensions, triggers, and objects
• Extend functionality using APIs, dynamic SQL, and embedded SQL
• Explore advanced topics such as DBMS transactions, locking mechanisms, materialized views, and two-phase commit protocol
• Understand the latest market trends and the future of SQL

Is your data dragging you down? Are your tables all tangled up? Well we've got the tools to teach you just how to wrangle your databases into submission. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory SQL learning experience, Head First SQL has a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Maybe you've written some simple SQL queries to interact with databases. But now you want more, you want to really dig into those databases and work with your data. Head First SQL will show you the fundamentals of SQL and how to really take advantage of it. We'll take you on a journey through the language, from basic INSERT statements and SELECT queries to hardcore database manipulation with indices, joins, and transactions. We all know "Data is Power" - but we'll show you how to have "Power over your Data". Expect to have fun, expect to learn, and expect to be querying, normalizing, and joining your data like a pro by the time you're finished reading!

If you're a programmer or database administrator who uses SQL in your day-to-day work, this popular pocket guide is the ideal on-the-job reference. You'll find many examples that address the language's complexity, along with key aspects of SQL used in IBM DB2 Release 9.7, MySQL 5.1, Oracle Database 11g Release 2, PostgreSQL 9.0, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Release 2.

SQL Pocket Guide describes how these database systems implement SQL syntax for querying, managing transactions, and making changes to data. It also shows how the systems use SQL functions, regular expression syntax, and type conversion functions and formats.

All example SQL statements in this book execute against a set of tables, with data that you can quickly download. The third edition covers important database changes, including:

• Oracle's support of the recursive WITH syntax, and addition of PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators
• Functions new to Oracle, such as LISTAGG, NTH_VALUE, and more
• PostgreSQL’s support of recursive WITH and some window functions
• DB2 syntax and datatypes, some compatible with Oracle
• MySQL features such as the TIMESTAMP type and the TO_SECONDS function

Uncover the secrets of SQL and start building better relational databases today!

This fun and friendly guide will help you demystify database management systems so you can create more powerful databases and access information with ease. Updated for the latest SQL functionality, SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition covers the core SQL language and shows you how to use SQL to structure a DBMS, implement a database design, secure your data, and retrieve information when you need it.

• Includes new enhancements of SQL:2011, including temporal data functionality which allows you to set valid times for transactions to occur and helps prevent database corruption
• Covers creating, accessing, manipulating, maintaining, and storing information in relational database management systems like Access, Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL
• Provides tips for keeping your data safe from theft, accidental or malicious corruption, or loss due to equipment failures and advice on eliminating errors in your work

Don't be daunted by database development anymore - get SQL For Dummies, 8th Edition, and you'll be on your way to SQL stardom.

Updated for the latest database management systems — including MySQL 6.0, Oracle 11g, and Microsoft's SQL Server 2008 — this introductory guide will get you up and running with SQL quickly. Whether you need to write database applications, perform administrative tasks, or generate reports, Learning SQL, Second Edition, will help you easily master all the SQL fundamentals.

Each chapter presents a self-contained lesson on a key SQL concept or technique, with numerous illustrations and annotated examples. Exercises at the end of each chapter let you practice the skills you learn. With this book, you will:

• Move quickly through SQL basics and learn several advanced features
• Use SQL data statements to generate, manipulate, and retrieve data
• Create database objects, such as tables, indexes, and constraints, using SQL schema statements
• Learn how data sets interact with queries, and understand the importance of subqueries
• Convert and manipulate data with SQL's built-in functions, and use conditional logic in data statements

Knowledge of SQL is a must for interacting with data. With Learning SQL, you'll quickly learn how to put the power and flexibility of this language to work.

The soup-to-nuts guide on all things SQL!

SQL, or structured query language, is the international standard language for creating and maintaining relational databases. It is the basis of all major databases in use today and is essential for the storage and retrieval of database information. This fun and friendly guide takes SQL and all its related topics and breaks it down into easily digestible pieces for you to understand. You’ll get the goods on relational database design, development, and maintenance, enabling you to start working with SQL right away!

• Provides an overview of the SQL language and examines how it is integral for the storage and retrieval of database information
• Includes updates to SQL standards as well as any new features
• Explores SQL concepts, relational database development, SQL queries, data security, database tuning, and more
• Addresses the relationship between SQL and programming as well as SQL and XML

If you’re looking for an up-to-date sequel to the bestelling first edition of SQL All-in-One For Dummies, then this is the book for you!

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes offers straightforward, practical answers when you need fast results.

By working through the book’s 22 lessons of 10 minutes or less, you’ll learn what you need to know to take advantage of the SQL language.

Lessons cover IBM DB2, Microsoft® Access, Microsoft SQL Server™, MySQL, Oracle®, PostgreSQL, SQLite, MariaDB, and Apache Open Office Base.

Full-color code examples help you understand how SQL statements are structured

Tips point out shortcuts and solutions

Cautions help you avoid common pitfalls

Notes explain additional concepts, and provide additional information

10 minutes is all you need to learn how to…

• Use the major SQL statements
• Construct complex SQL statements using multiple clauses and operators
• Retrieve, sort, and format database contents
• Pinpoint the data you need using a variety of filtering techniques
• Use aggregate functions to summarize data
• Join two or more related tables
• Insert, update, and delete data
• Create and alter database tables
• Work with views, stored procedures, and more