An Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Relational Database Language - Softcover

Lans, Rick F. Van Der

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0201596180 ISBN 13: 9780201596182

Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional, 1999

Synopsis

A guide to the access language for relational databases explains how to use Structured Query Langage to manage multiple users and security; summarize, sort, and restructure data; and work with tables, schema, and embedded SQL

About this title

About the Author

Rick van der Lans is an independent database consultant with many years' experience developing applications with SQL. He lectures frequently in the USA and Europe and is the author of several books on SQL, also published by Addison-Wesley, including The SQL Guide for Oracle and An SQL Guide for dBase IV.

From the Back Cover

SQL was, is and always will be the database language for relational database systems such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Informix and Microsoft SQL Server. Introduction to SQL describes in depth the full capacity of SQL as it is implemented by the commercial databases, without neglecting the most recent changes to the standard, bringing the book up to date and fully compliant with SQL3. Unique in the extent of its coverage, this book takes you from the beginning to the end of SQL, the concepts to the practice, the apprentice to the master. Learn how to:
* Query data
* Update data
* Create tables and views
* Specify primary and foreign keys
* Use indexes
* Secure your data
* Develop stored procedures and triggers
* Develop applications with embedded SQL and ODBC
* Carry out transactions
* Optimize statements
* Deal with object-relational concepts such as subtables, references, sets and user-defined data types. NEW

section devoted to stored procedures and triggers
NEW

coverage of object-oriented concepts
NEW

information on application development with pre-programmed SQL
NEW

chapter on using SQL in combination with ODBC The best way to learn a language is to work with it and the accompanying CD-ROM contains an SQL product called SOLID, chosen because it employs every aspect of SQL covered in the text. Experiment using the exercises in the book.

From the Inside Flap

Preface

SQL was, is and always will be the database language for relational database

systems such as Oracle, DB2, Sybase, Informix and Microsoft SQL Server. This

book contains a complete description of the database language SQL (Structured

Query Language). It should be seen primarily as a textbook in the active sense.

After reading this book you should be able to use SQL efficiently and effectively.

SQL supports a small, but very powerful, set of statements for manipulating,

managing, and protecting data stored in a database. This power has resulted

in its tremendous popularity. In the early eighties there were only ten to twenty

SQL products, but today there are at least twice as many. Almost every database

product supports SQL or a dialect of the language. Currently, SQL products are

available for every kind of computer, from microcomputer to mainframe, and for

every operating system, including DOS, Microsoft Windows and UNIX. Since 1987

there has been an official international standard for SQL. This has developed

into what Michael Stonebraker, an authority in the field of databases, once

expressed as intergalactic dataspeak.

Topics

In this book every aspect of SQL will be discussed thoroughly and critically.

The aspects of SQL that are covered include:
• querying data (joins, functions and subqueries)
• updating data
• creating tables and views
• specifying primary and foreign keys and other constraints
• using indexes
• data security
• developing stored procedures and triggers
• application development with embedded SQL and ODBC
• transactions
• optimization of statements
• dealing with object relational concepts, such as subtables, references,

sets and user-defined data types in the catalog.

For whom is this book intended?

We recommended this book to those who want to use the full power of SQL effectively

and efficiently in practice. This book is therefore suitable for the following

groups of people:
• students in higher education, including those in technical colleges,

polytechnics, universities and sixth-form colleges;
• programmers who develop or intend to develop applications with the help

of an SQL product;
• designers, analysts and consultants who need to deal, directly or indirectly,

with SQL or another relational database language and want to know its features

and limitations;
• owners of microcomputers who want to learn SQL with the help of SOLID;
• home students who are interested in SQL in particular or in relational

databases in general;
• users who have the authority to use SQL to query the database of the

company or establishment where they work.

A practical book

This book should be seen primarily as a textbook in the active sense, and

less as a reference work. To this end, it contains many examples and exercises

(with answers). Do not ignore the exercises. Experience shows that you will

learn the language more completely and more quickly by practising often and

doing many exercises.

Practising with SOLID

This book includes an SQL product called SOLID. This is a complete SQL pro-duct,

which is available for almost every microcomputer on which Windows 95, 98 or

NT has been installed. We advise you to install this product and do as many

exercises as possible with the help of SOLID.

Prerequisite knowledge

Some general knowledge of programming languages and database management systems

is required.

The third edition

This book is a completely revised third edition of Introduction to SQL, which

was first published in 1988. The second edition (van der Lans, 1992) was also

a complete revised edition. However, in recent years SQL has evolved considerably.

The number of products supporting SQL is still growing, the third version of

the international SQL standard will probably appear within the foreseeable future

and the functionality of some SQL products has increased considerably. These

seemed good enough reasons to revise Introduction to SQL completely.

For teachers who use Introduction to SQL in their classes, the major differences

are summarized below:
• the sequence of the chapters has been changed somewhat; on one hand,

this was done so that the new subjects could be added in logical places and,

on the other hand, so that the book could be split into separate sections;
• a new section is devoted to stored procedures and triggers; these concepts

have been implemented by many vendors and this has made it necessary to consider

them in this book;
• another new section is devoted to concepts coming from the object-oriented

world; there are not at present many products that support object orientation,

but it is to be expected that many products will do so in the not too distant

future;
• the chapter that describes how SOLID must be installed and used is, of

course, completely new; in the previous edition we used a different product

called Quadbase;
• the chapter on application development with pre-programmed SQL has been

extended considerably; we devote a whole section to this subject and have included

an additional chapter on using SQL in combination with ODBC;
• in each chapter the same database is used for most of the examples and

exercises; we have made some changes to this because of the new topics; the

naming of some tables and columns has also been changed to make it possible

to implement the database with SOLID;
• the chapter on developing reports has been removed; this is because SOLID

itself does not offer reporting facilities; furthermore, report generation is

not part of SQL.

And finally ...

I would like to use this preface to thank a number of people and companies

for their contributions to this book.

I am grateful to Solid Information Technology for providing the software for

inclusion with the book. I think that this product is invaluable for anyone

who wants to learn SQL. The best way to learn a language is still to work with

it!

It does not matter how many times a writer reads through his own work; editors

remain indispensable. A writer does not read what he has written, but what he

thinks he has written. In this respect writing is like programming. That is

why I owe a great deal to the following people for reviewing the manuscript

or parts of it, for making critical comments and giving very helpful advice:

Nok van Veen, Aad Speksnijder, Ed Jedeloo, Corine Cools, Andrea Gray, Josien

van der Laan, Richard van Dijk, Onno de Maar, Sandor Nieuwenhuijs, Wim Frederiks,

Ian Cargill and Marc van Cappellen.

I would also like to thank the hundreds of students who have studied SQL with

me over the past few years. Their comments and recommendations have been invaluable

in revising this book. In addition, a large number of readers of the previous

edition responded to my request to send comments and suggestions. I want to

thank them for the trouble they took to put these in writing.

For the first and second editions Diane Cools did much of the typing and corrected

many errors. I am still grateful for that, because working with WordStar version

1 on a PC/XT without a hard disk looked like a luxury then. I would like to

thank her again for her work on this new edition, but in another way. For a

writer it is reassuring to know that there is someone who, especially in difficult

times, keeps stimulating and motivating you. Thanks, Diane!

Finally, I would again like to ask readers to send comments, opinions, ideas

and suggestions concerning the contents of the book to the publisher: Addison-Wesley

at Pearson Education, 128 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9AN, England, marked for the

attention of Rick F. van der Lans, 'Introduction to SQL'. Many thanks, in anticipation,

of your cooperation.

Rick F. van der Lans
The Hague, March 1999

0201596180P04062001

Edition details

• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0201596180
• ISBN 13: 9780201596182
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 720