Summary
This chapter has introduced some real-world SQL as well as cautions on common mistakes. The first section includes the following:
Thinking conditionally— using CASE, COALESCE, and variants of these two keywords to make IF-like choices
Formatting and displaying data— learning how to split columns, how to join columns, and how to convert columns from one datatype to another
Playing with patterns— handling uppercase/lowercase issues, using complex expressions in predicates, and working with date data
The second section gives examples of common mistakes:
Mixing up DISTINCTs
Creating report-style displays
Finding the “first” row
For more information on these topics, see Appendix E, Resources.
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