Inside Symbian SQL: A Mobile Developer's Guide to SQLite

Chapter 4. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about SQL but Were Afraid to Ask

This chapter is a complete introduction – to SQL, in general, and SQLite's implementation of it, in particular. It assumes no previous experience with either SQL or the relational model. If you are new to SQL, SQLite should serve as an excellent springboard to the world of relational databases, since it will give you a good grounding in the fundamentals.

While the previous chapter on the relational model was a little theoretical and stuffy, this chapter is much more relaxed and practical. We're not here to prove theories, but to get things done. So if you didn't read the previous chapter, that's perfectly fine. You should still have no trouble with the material covered in this chapter. An understanding of the relational model is edifying, but is not necessary to learn SQL.

SQL is the sole (and almost universal) means by which to communicate with a relational database. It is a language exclusively devoted to information processing. It is designed for structuring, reading, writing, sorting, filtering, protecting, calculating, generating, grouping, aggregating, and, in general, managing information.

SQL is an intuitive, user-friendly language. It can be fun to use and is quite powerful. One of the fun things about SQL is that, regardless of whether you are an expert or a novice, you can continue to learn new ways of doing things (for better or worse). There are often many ways to tackle a given problem, and ...