Reviews for Mysql Crash Course (Sams Teach Yourself)

1. Not a course!

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, November 12rd, 2008

   This book is not a course. It reads more like a reference book.
   
   Frustratingly, all of the examples in the book are based on a database called crashcourse. I wondered where to get this database. I tried the author's website and eventually found 2 sql scripts. Even the appendix that mentions this, gives no instruction as to what to do with them. I had to figure it out by going to the tutorial on the MySql website! That left me thinking, why I have I forked out for a course book, if the only way to use the book is follow free tutorials on the web?
   
   This is very poor indeed. Not recommended for beginners. It is obvious that the author didn't properly test this 'course' on any newbie.

2. Less is more

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, February 12rd, 2008

   This book was perfect for me.
   
   I'm a programmer faced with using SQL for the 1st time (mySQL in particular). Usually I find tutorials over-long & mostly irrelevant to me. This one told me just what I needed to know.
   
   2 days ago I didn't know where to start - the mySQL documentation isn't written for newbies. Now I know enough to make design decisions, and am happy experimenting with the database. Result!
   
   

3. Buy a different book

   Rated 1 out of 5 stars, February 12th, 2008

   I found this book frustrating from the start. I was having difficulties understanding and using MySQL so this looked like a good solution. The book barley touches on MySQL the server and is almost an exact copy of SQL in 10 minutes. The book is tutorial based with an appendix at the back to download some scripts to create your test database and tables it suggests you use MySQL admin and browser but gives you almost no instruction what so ever about how to actually create them, your on your own, a bit inconsiderate given the book is supposed to be for beginners. The section on how to create databases and tables using SQL is at the back of the book, shouldn't that be at the beginning. The section about creating foreign keys is tagged on to the end of a section without any explanation, as is the snippet about retrieving auto increment values. The book points you to a forum run by the author but every post I submitted was ignored except one about my gripes which Ben himself replied, and I quote "the book is primarily on MySQL the language, not MySQL the server. This is deliberate and by design, as that is what most readers need - help with how to use MySQL, not how to install it or administer it. You should feel free to return the book if it is not what you wanted or expected.
   Thanks for the help!
   The book is to advanced for beginners and incomplete for intermediates!

4. 'MySql crash course' a superbly written, concise and readable guide

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, June 12th, 2007

   This book is quite simply a delight to read/use. No waffle or ego, just plain, simple, relevant, concise text. The author has delivered precisely what is required for any level of user to quickly learn the concepts of MYSql in short sweet exercises. Skip exercises at your peril, the concise nature of this book means that every word is essential to your understanding. If I were a lecturer in SQL, I would ask that every student reads this book before I allowed them in the class room.
   The book concentrates only on the command line interface which is a little annoying for those of you with a SQL2000 background (Of course there are Gui's available). Those people with clump fists might have difficulty. However, as the book explains, this method is the most 'reliable' when interrogating the database, which will be essential when you decide to collaborate with PHP or other scripting technologies.

5. MySQL Crash Course - it does what it says on the tin.

   Rated 5 out of 5 stars, January 12th, 2006

   I received a copy of MySQL Crash Course (Sam's Teach Yourself MySQL in 10 minutes) from Amazon.co.uk this morning. I immediately sat down in front of my computer with the book by my side and haven't left yet, except to tell you all how good it is.

   Many books feature SQL (Structured Query Language) and then try to apply it to each seperate implementation of the language in popular Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) like Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle etc. The problem is that SQL varies slightly from one implementation to another. This is (to my knowledge) the first comprehensive overview of learning and using SQL as it relates to the increasingly popular open source RDBMS MySQL.

   This is a 'learning by doing' book which focuses on practical examples. The code is introduced and explained, reproduced for you to allow you to enter it into your own MySQL client, and then the output your computer should return to you is printed. This is a great feature because in contrast to many code tutorial books, you know exactly where you have gone wrong if it doesn't work out. On a couple of occasions I found myself scratching my head and asking exactly why things worked the way they did, only for my exact queries to be addressed when I looked back down at the book with the exellent Analysis feature after every example.

   I have reached Chapter 8 already and have had absolutely no problems. Ideas of how I could use the things I'm learning abound and I can't wait to finish it and start experimenting with my own databases.

   What I would say is that this focuses exclusively on MySQL and does not include topics such as designing databases, relational database theory or integration with other technologies. This in my view is not a weakness but a strength as it concentrates solely on how to interact with MySQL databases.

   MySQL Crash Course is very well presented, clear, concise, comprehensive, relevant and teaches you everything you need to begin working with MySQL.