SQL in a Nutshell, Second Edition

A Desktop Quick Reference

By Kevin Kline
With Daniel Kline, Brand Hunt
September 2004
Pages: 710
Series: In a Nutshell
ISBN 10: 0-596-00481-8 | ISBN 13: 9780596004811
(4) (Average of 3 Customer Reviews)

This book is OUT OF PRINT. Please consider the latest edition.

Description

This essential desktop reference drills down and documents every SQL command and how to use it in both commercial (Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server) and open source implementations (PostgreSQL, and MySQL). It includes the command syntax (by vendor, if the syntax differs across implementations), a description, and practical examples. And it also explains how the leading commercial and open sources database product implement SQL. This wealth of information is packed into a succinct, comprehensive, and extraordinarily easy-to-use format.
Full Description

SQL in a Nutshell applies the eminently useful "Nutshell" format to Structured Query Language (SQL), the elegant--but complex--descriptive language that is used to create and manipulate large stores of data. For SQL programmers, analysts, and database administrators, the new second edition of SQL in a Nutshell is the essential date language reference for the world's top SQL database products. SQL in a Nutshell is a lean, focused, and thoroughly comprehensive reference for those who live in a deadline-driven world. This invaluable desktop quick reference drills down and documents every SQL command and how to use it in both commercial (Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server) and open source implementations (PostgreSQL, and MySQL). It describes every command and reference and includes the command syntax (by vendor, if the syntax differs across implementations), a clear description, and practical examples that illustrate important concepts and uses. And it also explains how the leading commercial and open sources database product implement SQL. This wealth of information is packed into a succinct, comprehensive, and extraordinarily easy-to-use format that covers the SQL syntax of no less than 4 different databases. When you need fast, accurate, detailed, and up-to-date SQL information, SQL in a Nutshell, Second Edition will be the quick reference you'll reach for every time. SQL in a Nutshell is small enough to keep by your keyboard, and concise (as well as clearly organized) enough that you can look up the syntax you need quickly without having to wade through a lot of useless fluff. You won't want to work on a project involving SQL without it.

Featured customer reviews

missing INFORMATION_SCHEMA, September 26 2006

Rating:

Submitted by frogola [Respond | View]

It's useful when moving between different sql vendors to see the different syntax, and if a certain function is available. I was disappointed to see that there's still no documentation of the useful INFORMATION_SCHEMA views (which are included in the SQL standard, possibly as far back as 92). I was hoping this topic would have been added to the 2nd edition.

Good coverage of Oracle/SQL Server, March 24 2006

Rating:

Submitted by loquin [Respond | View]

And, the coverage of PostgreSQL and MySQL was good for the versions listed, BUT, both the open source datbases have had MAJOR releases before this book was published.

PostgreSQL is now at version 8.1+, and MySQL is at version 5.

MySQL is now more ANSI compliant in its SQL implementation, and narrowed the feature gap between it and PostgreSQL. (it now supports limited stored procedures and trigger functionality.) PostgreSQL is now released in a native Win32 version, and has database roles, two-phase commits, savepoints, point-in-time recovery, ALTER TABLE supports column's data type, and CSV support in the COPY command.

So, if you want to compare proprietary databases, it's a great book. If you also need to work with open source databases, just be sure to run their older releases.

Struct Query Language Book very good!, September 30 2005

Rating:

Submitted by Eduardo Cesar Lunardelli [Respond | View]

He pulls, this book was what he has of SQL for our group of studies, still I am revising it, because I am reading others, in the truth diverse workmanships at the same time, but he has covered many commands of language SQL and I am with base in this book making a course and preparing me for a MCP...

I advise to give one olhadinha in this book before going to make tests...:)

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Media reviews
"Although the subtitle claims no more for it than to be 'A Desktop Quick Reference', SQL in a Nutshell does that and more. It deserves to be on the desktop of most working SQL developers and administrators...Compact as it is, SQL in a Nutshell's reference material does not simply repackage vendor documentation. It's better documentation than the providers write, because of the careful work Kline and his colleagues have done to structure it uniformly across the span of SQL. That's not all, though; along with the abstract definitions and glosses are brief, pointed expositions on specific topics...Databases are where the currency of an Information Society lives. If you're a front-line practitioner of database management, you likely need SQL in a Nutshell in your workspace."
-- Cameron Laird, UnixReview.com

"...a nice SQL syntax reference for anyone who uses more than one of the popular SQL database management systems."
-- Craig Mullins, DBAzine.com

"In sum, reference text prove their value by the battering they take. SQL in a Nutshell first edition has certainly won that badge of honor many times over. I know the 2nd edition is fast earning top battering marks. If you are into database, particularly cross platform database this tome will save a ton of time."
-- Jacques Surveyer, The Open Sourcery

"If you are a DBA or have to deal with database management, this book will help you by showing both statements and functions in a readable format as you manage databases."
--Robert Pritchett, MacCompanion, January 2005 (3:1)

"This wonderful reference has everything you'll need to start creating SQL databases for your specific distribution, (SQL, MS SQL, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL)."
--Computer Associates, May 2004

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