Reviews for Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Relational Database Language

1. EXCELLENT BOOK, thorough and clear

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, May 12th, 2007

   Very good book for use either as a reference, or to learn SQL. Clear explanations (except for some incomprehensible pseudo-code at the beginning of each chapter, but you don't really need that), all with examples on a specific database. Excellent coverage of SQL topics.
   BIG PLUS: At least half of the book is devoted to the SELECT statement, which most other books neglect, despite the fact that what you will be doing with a database is mostly retrieving data with SELECT statements, and this is precisely where complexity often lies.
   SMALL MINUS: Simple database programs, like Access, don't allow you to use things like stored procedures, so as a proportion you will be using SELECT more than other things. Yet this book doesn't point out which keywords don't work in Access, maybe because advanced enough users who need all these keywords would use a more powerful database. You will easily figure out whether something is supported by Access, but it would be nice if the book warned you, especially when there is an Access-specific alternative.

2. Excellent introduction to SQL and Database modelling

   Rated 4 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2000

   This book explains all the SQL stuff and relational databases in a clear and easy to follow fashion. The accompanying SQL server software is quite useful. Definitely my best purchase todate.

3. Ideal for the SQL beginner and lives up to the title.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, December 12th, 1998

   This book takes away the fear of using SQL and gives you the confidence to have a go Yourself. Greatly enhanced by the inclusion of the disc, which allows you to manipulate your own small 'quadbase' database. Quadbase is woven into the examples throughout the book,(Dos based,but runs well in a dos window).If you need to learn SQL I would recommend this book. It covers how a database is formed and then how to access it for information. Even the appendices are useful, listing reserved words and the meaning of the abbreviations and annotations used in the examples. I bought this book unseen and was not dissapointed.