Skip to Content
Sams Teach Yourself SQL in One Hour a Day, Fifth Edition
book

Sams Teach Yourself SQL in One Hour a Day, Fifth Edition

by Ryan Stephens, Ron Plew, Arie D. Jones
May 2009
Beginner
840 pages
16h 18m
English
Sams

Overview

The Fifth Edition of Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days

More than 48,000 sold!

In just one hour a day, you’ll have all the skills you need to begin creating effective SQL queries, reports, and database applications. With this complete tutorial, you’ll quickly master the basics and then move on to more advanced features and concepts:

  • Quickly apply essential SQL techniques in useful, real-world queries

  • Design trustworthy, high-performance databases

  • Manipulate your data with views and transactions

  • Leverage powerful features including stored procedures, triggers, and cursors

  • Work with new objects introduced with the latest SQL standards

  • Get practical, expert tips on implementing SQL in your business environment

  • Learn on your own time, at your own pace

  • No previous SQL or database experience required

  • Learn techniques that work with any current version of SQL

  • Discover how to write faster, more efficient queries

  • Secure your data using best practices from experienced database administrators

  • Build more powerful databases with features exclusive to Oracle SQL*Plus, Oracle PL/SQL, and Microsoft Transact-SQL

  • Write queries for the free, open source MySQL database

  • Embed your SQL code in other applications

  • Ryan Stephens and Ron Plew are President and VP of Perpetual Technologies, Inc. (PTI) in Indianapolis, IN, providing managed services and consulting for top database implementations running Oracle, SQL Server, and other leading technologies. They taught for 5+ years as adjunct professors at Indiana University-Purdue University. Their books include Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 24 Hours, First through Fourth Editions, Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second through Fourth Editions, and Database Design.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction  1

    PART I: Introducing SQL

    LESSON 1: Getting Started with SQL     5

         A Brief History of SQL     5

         A Brief History of Databases     6

         Today’s Database Landscape     11

         A Cross-Product Language     12

             Early Implementations     12

             SQL and Client/Server Application Development     13

        An Overview of SQL     13

        Popular SQL Implementations     14

             MySQL     14

             Oracle     14

             Microsoft SQL Server and Sybase     15

             IBM DB2     16

        Open Database Connectivity     16

        Embedding SQL in Application Programming     17

    LESSON 2: Introducing the Query     21

        Exploring SQL’s Background     21

        Learning Basic Query Syntax     22

        The Building Blocks of Data Retrieval: SELECT and FROM     23

        Applying Query Concepts     25

        Writing Your First Query     26

             Terminating a SQL Statement     28

             Selecting Individual Columns     28

             Changing the Order of the Columns     29

             Selecting Different Tables     31

        Selecting Distinct Values     31

             Exercises  37

    LESSON 3: Expressions, Conditions, and Operators     39

        Working with Query Expressions     40

        Placing Conditions on Queries     40

        Learning How to Use Operators     42

            Arithmetic Operators     42

            Comparison Operators     55

            Character Operators     63

            Logical Operators     70

            Set Operators     75

            Miscellaneous Operators: IN and BETWEEN     78

    LESSON 4: Clauses in SQL Queries     85

        Specifying Criteria with the WHERE Clause     87

        Order from Chaos: The ORDER BY Clause     89

        The GROUP BY Clause     98

        The HAVING Clause     105

        Combining Clauses     112

            Example 4.1     112

            Example 4.2     113

            Example 4.3     113

            Example 4.4     115

    LESSON 5: Joining Tables     121

        Joining Multiple Tables in a Single SELECT Statement     121

            Cross Joining Tables &

    Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
    and much more.

    Read now

    Unlock full access

    More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

    AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

    QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
    Julian F.
    Head of Cybersecurity
    QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
    Addison B.
    Field Engineer
    QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
    Amir M.
    Data Platform Tech Lead
    QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
    Mark W.
    Embedded Software Engineer

    You might also like

    SQL in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself, Sixth Edition

    SQL in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself, Sixth Edition

    Ryan Stephens, Arie D. Jones, Ron Plew
    SQL in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

    SQL in a Nutshell, 4th Edition

    Kevin Kline, Regina O. Obe, Leo S. Hsu

    Publisher Resources

    ISBN: 9780768690385Purchase book