Kenneth J. Naszradi said
As a systems admin, I find this book a great reference guide for writing SQL scripts. The instructions are clear and concise and cover most common situations. The examples aren't very clear, however, so you have to understand what the statements are dealing with, and the topics don't seem to be arranged appropriately (deleting and truncating are contained in two separate places in the book). But overall this book is a good reference guide for someone who is familiar with SQL, but needs a little assistance now and then.
J. Skywatcher said
This is very useful. I keep it where I can reach it on a moment's notice!
susan61095 said
"SQL Pocket Guide - 2nd Edition" is a short reference book for SQL DML (Data Manipulation Language), transaction control statements, datatypes, datatype conversion, table creation, and table modification. As the title indicates, this book is a "Pocket Guide" for the 4 major database platforms (Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL, and DB2). DO NOT EXPECT this book to be a complete reference or learning guide. Like most pocket guides, only people that already know the topic will find this text most useful. I own BOTH the 1st & 2nd editions. Due to my extensive use of the 1st edition, I purchased the 2nd edition released in 2006. This is the single most used book in my library! In fact, it is never on the book shelf! It's on my desk, in my bag, and travels with me on location. I work on a variety of database platforms with the 2 biggies being MS SQL Server & Oracle. I know the language, but at times can forget the exact syntax needed for the platform I'm working with. This book provides me with an extremely efficient way to "refresh" my memory and because it covers the 4 major platforms, I'm usually covered with this ONE small book.
The layout of the 2nd edition has been reorganized alphabetically by keyword and now covers: Oracle 10g including Oracle Express Ed, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, IBM DB2 release 8.2, MySQL 5.0, and PostgreSQL 8.1. As the layout of the 2nd edition has dramatically changed since the 1st edition and is now organized alphabetically by keyword (the keyword represented on each page is listed at the bottom of the page), you can quickly find the page you're looking for by flipping through the book and looking at the bottom right corner of the page. This is MUCH MUCH easier and faster! The new edition still has a very good Index, if you can't find what you're looking for on a flip-through pass.
Also new in the 2nd ed. is an extensive listing of datatypes, datatype conversions, and syntax variation for table creation and modification. This was a complaint in other reviews specific to the 1st ed., as missing. NOT SO in the new 2nd edition! PLEASE CHECK THE DATE OF THE REVIEW YOU'RE READING to ensure it pertains to the 2nd edition.
I was so impressed with this book... I actually bought TWO copies of the 2nd edition -- one for me and one for a co-worker -- AND passed my 1st edition on to another co-worker. For those "Now, how do I write that..." moments, this book can save you HOURS! I also like seeing the different examples and sample result sets for the different platforms. If the book doesn't cover what I'm looking for, I can always go to a more extensive reference book.
John R. Hines said
A comprehensive and detailed SQL reference with sample code and result sets to make the content clear. An excellent pocket guide to take anywhere.
David Mallord said
this pocket book is useful in that it touches on command sets from mysql, sql server, and also oracle. this cross platform approach is helpful when learning sql, or if one was to switch from one enterprise level system to the next. this mini book was shipped out in a timely fashion. i can say that the reference available in this book was well worth the moderate expense, as well as the shipping time.
Comments