Horton

Thread

  1. Studying

    John Henderson <jrh@is.com.fj> — 1999-10-29T01:17:11Z

    Hi,
I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
have seen others recommended?

I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials etc.

Thanks,
John Henderson

  2. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Kevin Heflin <kheflin@shreve.net> — 1999-10-29T01:44:33Z

    On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote:

> Hi,
> I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
> also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
> have seen others recommended?


Don't know if you've seen this link yet, but I have found this to be a
good read and has been very helpful to me. I've been writing simple SQL
queries for about two years, and this link had some more advanced examples
and helped me to write some more efficient SQL. Some of it is MSSQL and
ORACLE specific, but for the most part is basic SQL.


"Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second Edition"

http://members.tripod.com/er4ebus/sql/index.htm


Kevin



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  3. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-10-29T02:04:20Z

    [Charset iso-8859-1 unsupported, filtering to ASCII...]
> Hi,
> I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
> also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
> have seen others recommended?
> 
> I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials etc.

My book is on the web site under Info Central/Documentation.  See
published book.    It is only partially done, but may help.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

  4. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-10-29T02:41:53Z

    > On Fri, 29 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> > I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
> > also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
> > have seen others recommended?
> 
> 
> Don't know if you've seen this link yet, but I have found this to be a
> good read and has been very helpful to me. I've been writing simple SQL
> queries for about two years, and this link had some more advanced examples
> and helped me to write some more efficient SQL. Some of it is MSSQL and
> ORACLE specific, but for the most part is basic SQL.
> 
> 
> "Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second Edition"
> 
> http://members.tripod.com/er4ebus/sql/index.htm

Added to FAQ.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

  5. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Ken <webweaver@rmci.net> — 1999-10-29T05:55:21Z

    At 01:17 PM 10/29/99 +1200, John Henderson wrote:
>Hi,
>I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
>also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
>have seen others recommended?
>
>I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials etc.
>
>Thanks,
>John Henderson

The _Practical SQL Handbook_ by Bowman, et.al. is well respected and
frequently recommended as a good SQL intro for beginners.  This will not
give you DB specific info though.  I would stay away from O'Reilly on this
one. 

Ciao-- Ken
http://www.y2know.org/safari

Failure is not an option- it comes bundled with your Microsoft product.

  6. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Thomas Good <tomg@admin.nrnet.org> — 1999-10-29T13:00:05Z

    On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Ken Gunderson wrote:

> At 01:17 PM 10/29/99 +1200, John Henderson wrote:
> >Hi,
> >I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
> >also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
> >have seen others recommended?
> >
> >I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials etc.
> >
> >Thanks,
> >John Henderson
> 
> The _Practical SQL Handbook_ by Bowman, et.al. is well respected and
> frequently recommended as a good SQL intro for beginners.  This will not
> give you DB specific info though.  I would stay away from O'Reilly on this
> one. 
> 
> Ciao-- Ken
> http://www.y2know.org/safari

And I never weary of touting the virtue of the `LAN TIMES Guide to SQL'
by Groff and Weinberg.  I find it superior to every other tome I've read.
It includes very handy charts.  The data type comparison chart includes
Ingres whose data types match PG for the most part.  I ripped mine out
and laminated it.  Very useful.

For performance tuning I recommend Guy Harrison's `SQL Performance Tuning'.
Although it is Oracle specific the concepts (e.g., sequences) apply.

Once you get the rudiments of SQL, anything by Joe Celko is usually helpful
for headier topics.  I like `SQL for Smarties', even the parts that elude 
me.  ;-)

Cheers,
Tom

------- North Richmond Community Mental Health Center -------

Thomas Good                                   MIS Coordinator
Vital Signs:                  tomg@ { admin | q8 } .nrnet.org
                                          Phone: 718-354-5528  
                                          Fax:   718-354-5056  
                              
/* Member: Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility */

  7. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Duncan Kinder <dckinder@mountain.net> — 1999-10-29T15:29:53Z

    > I like `SQL for Smarties', even the parts that elude

Currently on 40% discount at Amazon.com


Regards,

Duncan C. Kinder
dckinder@mountain.net



----- Original Message -----
From: Thomas Good <tomg@admin.nrnet.org>
To: Ken Gunderson <webweaver@rmci.net>
Cc: John Henderson <jrh@is.com.fj>; <pgsql-general@hub.org>
Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 6:00 AM
Subject: Re: [GENERAL] Studying


> On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, Ken Gunderson wrote:
>
> > At 01:17 PM 10/29/99 +1200, John Henderson wrote:
> > >Hi,
> > >I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner
but is
> > >also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best?
I
> > >have seen others recommended?
> > >
> > >I have pretty much exhausted the online documentation/FAQ/tutorials
etc.
> > >
> > >Thanks,
> > >John Henderson
> >
> > The _Practical SQL Handbook_ by Bowman, et.al. is well respected and
> > frequently recommended as a good SQL intro for beginners.  This will not
> > give you DB specific info though.  I would stay away from O'Reilly on
this
> > one.
> >
> > Ciao-- Ken
> > http://www.y2know.org/safari
>
> And I never weary of touting the virtue of the `LAN TIMES Guide to SQL'
> by Groff and Weinberg.  I find it superior to every other tome I've read.
> It includes very handy charts.  The data type comparison chart includes
> Ingres whose data types match PG for the most part.  I ripped mine out
> and laminated it.  Very useful.
>
> For performance tuning I recommend Guy Harrison's `SQL Performance
Tuning'.
> Although it is Oracle specific the concepts (e.g., sequences) apply.
>
> Once you get the rudiments of SQL, anything by Joe Celko is usually
helpful
> for headier topics.  I like `SQL for Smarties', even the parts that elude
> me.  ;-)
>
> Cheers,
> Tom
>
> ------- North Richmond Community Mental Health Center -------
>
> Thomas Good                                   MIS Coordinator
> Vital Signs:                  tomg@ { admin | q8 } .nrnet.org
>                                           Phone: 718-354-5528
>                                           Fax:   718-354-5056
>
> /* Member: Computer Professionals For Social Responsibility */
>
>
> ************
>
>

  8. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-10-29T15:50:10Z

    > And I never weary of touting the virtue of the `LAN TIMES Guide to SQL'
> by Groff and Weinberg.  I find it superior to every other tome I've read.
> It includes very handy charts.  The data type comparison chart includes
> Ingres whose data types match PG for the most part.  I ripped mine out
> and laminated it.  Very useful.

Yes.  That is what I used to learn SQL fully.  Great book.



-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

  9. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Bill Meahan <wmeahan@flash.net> — 1999-10-29T22:57:33Z

    On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote:
> Hi,
> I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
> also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
> have seen others recommended?
> 

Though you'll never go wrong with an O'Reilly book, IMNSHO, my personal
recommendations would be:

"Instant SQL Programming" by Joe Celko followed by
"SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming" also by Joe Celko

Joe's a member of the ANSI X3H2 Database Standards Committee and has
written articles and columns for most of the major database-oriented
magazines. His style is clear , explicit and takes no prisoners. If
one vendor or another's idea is crap, he says so. The books focus on
ANSI SQL-92  rather than any vendor specific variation. There's an
extensive bibliography (at least in the advanced book which I have) and
vendorisms are cussed and discussed where appropriate.

I've been doing SQL programming since the mid-1980's (99.9% on one or
another  version of Oracle) and thought I knew SQL quite well. Then I
picked up "SQL for Smarties" and learned a lot more than I already knew!

  -- 
Bill Meahan WA8TZG    wmeahan@flash.net
Certified (certifiable?) computing old-timer: programming since 1965
and never a line of COBOL! Unix Bigot. Perl fan. Oracle weenie.
cat: n, a purr-bearing mammal

  10. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Ken <webweaver@rmci.net> — 1999-10-30T01:27:24Z

    At 06:57 PM 10/29/99 -0400, Bill Meahan wrote:
>On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
>> also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
>> have seen others recommended?
>> 
>
>Though you'll never go wrong with an O'Reilly book, IMNSHO, my personal
>recommendations would be:
>
>"Instant SQL Programming" by Joe Celko followed by
>"SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming" also by Joe Celko

Hey; he was asking about a "beginner's guide" afterall...  But as long as
we are on more advanced topics, I would mention Kimball's work as well.

I personally disagree with your assertion about never going wrong with
O'Reilly.  While for many topics O'Reilly is my publisher of choice, I'm
finding that newer titles increasingly disappoint.  I don't want to mention
specifics out of respect for the authors, as it's the editors who are
leveraging them to water down the content for greater mass appeal.
Evidently the bean counters have figured out that there is more money to be
made by targeting the beginning to intermediate audience than the
traditional O'Reilly target of the intermediate to advanced user.  It
apppears to me as if WROX is poised to fill this niche now, although I am
not particularly enamored with their layout.

So there's my $0.02.  Back to the lurk mode now...

Ciao--Ken
http://www.y2know.org/safari/

FreeBSD- Viagra for your server ;^)

  11. Re: [GENERAL] Studying

    Samy Elashmawy <samelash@ix.netcom.com> — 1999-10-30T12:50:35Z

    on more advanced topics, I would mention Kimball's work as well.
>
>I personally disagree with your assertion about never going wrong with
>O'Reilly.  While for many topics O'Reilly is my publisher of choice, I'm
>finding that newer titles increasingly disappoint.  I don't want to mention
>specifics out of respect for the authors, as it's the editors who are
>leveraging them to water down the content for greater mass appeal.
>Evidently the bean counters have figured out that there is more money to be
>made by targeting the beginning to intermediate audience than the
>traditional O'Reilly target of the intermediate to advanced user.  It


You hit the nial right on the head , as a bebiner to somwhat intermediate ,
I have found most orielly books too advanced and skiimp on detials. But it
must hit the more advanced crowd on the mark , as you find them every where.

To bad there is not a third party book on suse. That would be trealy need.
My most thumbed throgh linux book is a hard cover version fo "doctor Linux"
that is a basic reprint of ALL the How Tos. all in one "telephone book"
Real neet as it usualy starts out at a readable leval , then gos on up from
there , and if you thumb around a  bbit you will find what you want. 




>apppears to me as if WROX is poised to fill this niche now, although I am
>not particularly enamored with their layout.
>
>So there's my $0.02.  Back to the lurk mode now...
>
>Ciao--Ken
>http://www.y2know.org/safari/
>
>FreeBSD- Viagra for your server ;^)
>
>************
>
>