sql

As a developer and designer of AS/400 commercial software, I have always respected Paul Conte's contributions to my sphere of technical knowledge. This book furthers that respect. It expands on the chapter on SQL in Paul Conte's Database Design and Programming for DB2/400, a MUST-HAVE book for every AS/400 development team in its own right. Paul and Mike do an excellent job of introducing the unique features of the OS/400 operating system as they relate to SQL, and proceed in a logical fashion to explain both the data description and data manipulation aspects of SQL/400. I especially appreciated the various design tips- for example, how to create an SQL table with a member name that differs from the file name (a problem unique to AS/400 programming considerations). The section on dynamic SQL processing is particularly helpful. The examples can be put to good use immediately for writing useful SQL applications. The use of different languages to present these examples means the book will be helpful to RPG or Cobol programmers. Ignore the earlier reviewer who claimed this is a regurgitation of IBM's manuals. This is simply not true.

For those who are just embarking on database programming, chapters 17-19, on general concepts regarding data modelling and relational database design, are worth the price of the book alone. They provide guidance for using a formal approach to database design, instead of the 'intuitive' approach many of us old-timers have grown up with.

The only area I would like to have seen more detailed discussion is on the subject of remote connections (DRDA).

The writing is clear, concise, technically accurate and complete, which is typical of all Paul's work, including his prolific magazine article output. I imagine Mike Cravitz's contribution is also significant, having read several of his articles also. These two guys are the 'real thing' - not like many of the technical imposters writing in the AS/400 realm.

Get this book and read it. For further database programming insights, read their News/400 articles, too.

If I were teaching (or taking) a class on SQL/400, or just wanting to learn how to develop AS/400 database applications, this is _the_ book that I would want to use. The information needed to develop AS/400 SQL applications is available from other sources, but contained in hundreds of technical manuals, magazine articles, news group postings, and code examples (just to name a few sources). The authors have used their considerable knowledge and experiences to shorten the learning process for the reader by pulling together that information into a single place. I am especially impressed with the organization of material into manageable topics, the easy to read writing style, and numerous tips and techniques presented. I found reading this book more like reading a good novel and wanting to see what happens in the next chapter rather than reading a textbook. I have to admit however I live with this stuff every day. Having been an AS/400 database administrator for the past 10 years I can appreciate the amount of knowledge, experience and effort required to write a book of this kind. The only downside to this book that I found is that I would have liked to see more information about developing applications using JDBC, interfacing with Windows applications using ADO and ODBC, and serving AS/400 information via Web pages. I find an increasing part of my workload to be answering questions about these topics. A good majority of those questions however don't deal with language specific access mechanisms but rather from a lack of understanding about AS/400 specific features and database fundamentals, topics which are well covered in this book. After reading this book I do have one additional problem also. Now I need to buy a stack of these books to hand out to the numerous developers who cross my desk on a daily basis.

I had a vendor in the day this came to work. He asked me if I had a good SQL book and I replied, "Let's find out" and opened the box. It was perfect for what we needed. I have used it several times and it is easy to read. Being new at SQL on the 400, I am a little frustrated with the index. I was trying to figure out how to substring and couldn't find a reference anywhere. Twice I have had to forego the book and ask another person.
It is a great learning tool and I'm very glad I bought it.