Discovering SQL: A Hands-On Guide for Beginners

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1: DROWNING IN DATA, DYING OF THIRST FOR KNOWLEDGE

Data Deluge and Informational Overload

Database Management Systems (DBMSs)

Storage Capacity

Number of Users

Security

Performance

Scalability

Costs

Recording Data

Oral Records

Pictures

Written Records

Printed Word

All of the Above

Analog versus Digital Data

To Store or Not to Store?

Relational Database Management Systems

IBM DB2 LUW

Oracle

Microsoft SQL Server

Microsoft Access

PostgreSQL

MySQL

HSQLDB and OpenOffice BASE

What Is SQL?

The SQL Standard

Dialects of SQL

Not the Only Game in Town

Let There Be Database!

Creating a Table

Getting the Data In: INSERT Statement

Give Me the World: SELECT Statement

Good Riddance: the DELETE Statement

I Can Fix That: the UPDATE Statement

Summary

CHAPTER 2: BREAKING AND ENTERING: STRUCTURED INFORMATION

A Really Brief Introduction to Data Modeling

Conceptual Modeling

Logical Modeling

Physical Modeling

Why Can't Everything Be Text?

Character Data

Fixed Length and Variable Strings

Binary Strings

Character versus Special Files

Numeric Data

Exact Numbers

Approximate Numbers

Literals for the Number

Once Upon a Time: Date and Time Data Types

Binary Data

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's … a NULL!

Much Ado About Nothing

None of the Above: More Data Types

BOOLEAN

BIT

XML Data Type

DDL, DML, and DQL: Components of SQL

Refactoring Database TABLE

DROP TABLE

CREATE TABLE

ALTER TABLE

Populating a Table with Different Data Types

Implicit and Explicit Data Conversion

SELECT Statement ...