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I need to REALLY learn SQL - Book recommendations please

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 4:23 pm
by Luke
Alright, I've put it off for too long. I know just enough SQL to get me by, but honestly I only partly know what joins do. I'm an SQL-tard. It's time I learn it and learn it thoroughly. I'm looking for recommendations on SQL in general, but the two RDBMS's I plan on using to any extent are Mysql and Postgres. There is a small possibility I'll use SQLite, but probably not any time soon. If anybody has a good recommendation, please let me know. Thanks!

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:26 pm
by RobertGonzalez
There are a ton of MySQL books out there, from developers to DBA's to System Administrator books. I have found some at Barnes and Noble, though I am sure there are some on the MySQL website. I haven't used Postgres so I cannot help you there.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:33 pm
by Luke
Well that's precisely my problem. There are SOO many books, I don't know which to choose. :(

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 5:40 pm
by califdon
I'm assuming that you are looking for an advanced SQL reference? (I can't believe the Ninja needs help with simple joins, etc.! There's ample beginners' SQL tutorials online.) Even then, there are some pretty good online tutorials. Check out http://www.smart-soft.co.uk/Oracle/adva ... part-2.htm or http://www.1keydata.com/sql/sql.html or the old standby, http://www.w3schools.com/sql/sql_join.asp.

The trouble I've had with SQL books, especially advanced ones, is that the authors are often real academics who have to pad the book with every possible feature, forcing you to read 400 pages just to learn how to do a join that could be explained in a short paragraph.

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:05 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Are you looking for ways to write better queries or are you looking for administration stuff? Or both?

Posted: Wed Sep 05, 2007 6:13 pm
by Luke
Queries, I'm not really interested in managing the database server, although I am the proud owner of this little doozy:

http://www.amazon.com/High-Performance- ... 034&sr=8-5

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:38 am
by califdon
The Ninja Space Goat wrote:Queries, I'm not really interested in managing the database server, although I am the proud owner of this little doozy:

http://www.amazon.com/High-Performance- ... 034&sr=8-5
I'm not familiar with that one. Is it good? O'Reilly books usually have good authors.

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 12:51 pm
by Luke
It's pretty good. Short and to the point. It really isn't what I need to know though. I need to know how to write complex queries.

Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:24 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Is there anything on this list that could help you? Or perhaps this list?