relational databases

This book helps to "demystify" SQL. Before I started reading this and also "Learn SQL in 10 Minutes," by Ben Forta, I had a mortal fear of databases, one that thanks to this book I now realize is totally unfounded. This book has a lot of good technical information about SQL, but it's presented in a way that makes it easy to understand and won't "scare off" the beginners like me. I liked how the author took great pains to explain a lot of SQL commands, making them relate to the topic being discussed.

The first two chapters cover relational database and SQL fundamentals. The next few chapters discuss more details about SQL, first its "languages," then how to build a SQL database, and once it's built how to retrieve data from it, and also issues relating to keeping it secure.

Generally, a good "Dummies" book on a complex subject.

I like to start off projects with simple concepts and a few examples to get off the ground. Well this book does just that. Unfortunately I would also like to have some example of input and output. I chose this book because it was not database specific, as I am converting files from an Informix database, through a filter, to a flat file, for later conversion to an Oracle database, with a different structure. Unfortunately this book (being universal) has no universal explanation as to how to get information from a flat file in or out of the database. First you have to find the term they use, not ASCII, not flat, not import, not export, not not not. The term is found in chapter 7 "foreign." The explanation on how to do this is to "...turn to one of the professional data translation services." Great, just what I wanted to know.

This book was just a good as my University's suggested text book. If you need to know something regarding SQL, it is IN HERE. Definitely worth checking out, you won't have regret or be disappointed.