SQL (Structured Query Language) is a standardized query language for requesting information from a database. Historically, SQL has been the choice for database management systems running on minicomputers and mainframes. Increasingly, however, SQL is being adapted to PC database systems because it supports distributed databases--databases that are spread out over several computer systems, so that several users on a local-area network can access the same database simultaneously. Although there are different dialects of SQL, it is the closest thing to a standard query language that currently exists. SQL in a Nutshell is a practical and useful command reference to the latest release of the Structured Query Language (SQL99), helping readers learn how their favorite database product supports any standard SQL command. This book presents each of the SQL commands and describes its use in both commercial (Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and Oracle 8i) and open source (MySQL, PostgreSQL 7.0) implementations. Each command reference includes the command syntax (by vendor, if the syntax differs across implementations), a description, and informative examples that illustrate important concepts and uses. SQL in a Nutshell is more than a convenient reference guide for experienced SQL programmers, analysts, and database administrators. It's also a great learning resource for novice and auxiliary SQL users such as system administrators, users of packaged client/server products, and consultants who need to be familiar with the various SQL dialects across many platforms.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 42 Ratings

Found something missing, what is missing that I don't know about? - 2009-12-30
Reviewer Rating:
I'm studying SQL intensively for work and needed an up-to-date reference, so bought this book, relying on the O'Reilly reputation for good books.

As soon as I got it I looked up something I had just used at work for the first time: The WITH clause. (Or statement, I don't know.)

It wasn't in the alphabetical list of "commands", and didn't show up in the index. The word "WITH" does show up in the lists of reserved words in the Appendix.

Is it just my bad luck that the very first thing I looked up - no kidding! the first thing! - was missing from this book? This book is large enough to be encyclopedic, and is organized like an encyclopedia, yet - if this thing that I know about is missing, what is missing that I don't know about but would have wanted to learn from this book?

Excellent reference for the database user - 2010-01-12
Reviewer Rating:
I'm not a DBA, and I don't pretend to be one. I'm a C++ programmer and the only time I care about SQL is when I'm trying to coerce some database to give up the information I need. As I don't develop on an internet connected machine, I'm constantly running to the Google Gods to answer my SQL questions. But no more! This book keeps me in front of my dev machine where I belong. It has just the right level of detail. I find it very akin to a man page level of detail, which is perfect for my needs. It also presents SQL statements for various implementations; the MySQL and Postgres inclusion is key! Overall, it makes an excellent reference. I don't think you'd be able to learn the language or discover advanced techniques from it though.

This is a great reference for DB admins, especially if they use DBs from multiple vendors - 2009-05-30
Reviewer Rating:
I am reviewing the third edition.

This book is intended as a reference, not an instructional text. It serves this purpose well with pages and pages of great examples. The book is not focused on databases and SQL from a specific vendor, but gives great data and comparisons of commands and queries using ANSI SQL and then adjusting as needed for MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server. If you are responsible for moving data from one vendor's product to another, or if you are responsible for databases from multiple vendors, this book could be a Godsend. Really, if you only use one of these products, the book is still a great value.

Keep in mind, this is not an instruction manual. This is a compilation of commands with examples. The goal is not to lead gently, but to get directly to the meat of using SQL, to give clear and detailed information about each command, its syntax and options, and several examples of usage. If that is what you are looking for, and especially a book with comparisons across platforms, this book will serve you very well.

SQL dummy! - 2009-05-21
Reviewer Rating:
SQL seems like a pretty simple and straightforward language and for the most part it is, until you get into complex queries. This book is great about explaining the hows and whys including performance costs of various approaches.

Interleaved reference manual for MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, MS SQL Server - 2009-04-24
Reviewer Rating:
For me, the value of this book is in its comparison/contrasts of different flavors of SQL syntax.

The third edition covers and compares ANSI (SQL2003), MySQL 5.1, Oracle 11g, PostgreSQL 8.3, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. (No mention of DB2, which other reviewers have found in the second edition.) "Because XML and XQuery are disciplines in their own right, they are considered beyond the scope of this book." As other reviewers have said, this is great as a cross-platform command reference; but somewhat redundant if you are already committed to a particular implementation.

I learned Sybase and SQL Server (and am picking up PostgreSQL) by reading the vendor-supplied manuals. This book doesn't really go beyond collating all the commands (and descriptions of their options) from those manuals, except by providing tables of commands, datatypes, identifier naming rules, operators showing whether a certain incantation is supported in which of the four database implementations. I don't mean this to be as negative as it sounds --- this juxtaposition is the entire point of this book, and can be very helpful if you want to write platform-independent SQL. Context-switching by flipping pages can still be much faster than having two web browser windows open to the vendors' online manuals.

Unfortunately, certain areas of databases are platform-dependent, such as index implementation. If you don't know what kind of index will be best for your application, this book's description of the CREATE INDEX command is not going to help you and you should instead review your vendor's database tuning notes. Come to think of it, this book makes almost no mention of performance tuning --- but that's probably appropriate.

The book index is OK if you know the exact command you are looking for --- but since the reference section is in alphabetical order already, you could have just flipped through the book to it. At least 80% of the words in the index are commands (in ALL CAPS), and a large fraction of the others are concepts in the introduction section. This is not a "recipes" book, and if you know what you want to do but don't know the name of the command, you are better off using an internet search engine.

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