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Summary: DBAs and novices alike need this book
Review: This is an awesome book. DBA's need it for reference purposes. Novices need it to learn what the heck they are doing. But it is especially useful for those of us who work in companies that can't make up their minds which database we are going with, and so we have to move back and forth between several. I have worked with Oracle, Informix, Sybase, MySQL, and Microsoft's SQL Server all in the past 4 years. This is an excellent book. Everyone should have at least 1 copy.
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Summary: Great Quick Reference
Review: This is not meant to be an in depth study of SQL, but a quick reference, which is what the the Nutshell Series is all about. Great companion to the Transact-SQL and the MySQL books, both from O'Reilly.Don't let the negative 'light weight' reviews turn you away. If you need something quick for a SQL reference, buy this book.
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Summary: Sql in a Nutshell : A Desktop Quick Reference
Review: This is the book that I would like to recommend to anyone with any degree of SQL knowledge. I am familiar with the Author's other work. This one is also a continuation of a great lineage of SQL books by the author. Definitely a winner!
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Summary: Well Suited to its Purpose
Review: To a certain degree I agree with the reviewer who says that SQL in a Nutshell is a "thin" book; it is a command reference for four different RDMSs. But to slam it because it is not a full set of docs is to misread SQL in a Nutshell's purpose; it is designed as a cross-platform reference guide for people like me who are not experts and have to move between RDMS implementations (including desktop apps). Twenty pages out of two hundred on SELECT shows how important the command actually is across platforms. In fact, SQL in a Nutshell's great virtue is that it finally levels the playing field by putting PostgreSQL and MySQL, the popular open source RDMS, on the same level with MS SQL Server and Oracle, each of which easily has its own market for high-end manuals and guides, while open source apps are freely available online. So, if you need full documentation on your favorite RDMS, go ahead and spend a couple of hundred dollars somewhere else. If you want a handy reference, simple explanations and comparisons, and an easy to read introduction to the four most important RDMSs currently available, pick up SQL in a Nutshell. You won't be disappointed.
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Summary: Slimline but practical
Review: When I first saw this book I was perhaps a little doubtful it would be any good. It certainly is slimline when put on the shelf against my other O'Reilly Nutshell titles. I found it hard to believe that SQL in a Nutshell covers the SQL syntax of no less than 4 databases (Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle and PostgreSQL), but when you actually see the way that it's been put together, it all makes perfect sense. Rather than having seperate sections for each of the SQL dielects, all statements and functions are listed together with any vendor specific information noted where needed. The main advantage of this style of organisation is that it helps you to identify any problems with portability between the databases you may be having. As can be expected with any Nutshell book, the history of SQL is discussed along with all the basic ideas and concepts that go with it. Even if you don't use one of the databases talked about in the the book, you are sure to be able to make good use of it as it makes frequent reference to the SQL standard.
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Summary: Maintaining several SQL implementations?
Review: [A review of the 2nd edition, 2004.]
Perhaps the best virtue of this book is that it spans all the major variants of SQL - db2, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL and Microsoft's SQL Server. The authors are not beholden to any particular vendor. Thus the book describes the common ground. That is, the commands and usage that are most likely to be the same or similar across these implementations. Because a major use of this book might be in migrating. To this end, the more code you can have in this common area, the less painful the migration.
Another possible usage is if you are a DBA in charge of running 2 [or more] of these implementations. Perhaps due to some legacy issues, you have to support them. If you cannot merge SQL code into one common version, you can get problems. Being able to use this book to find quickly common commands and options to those commands might greatly help you maximise a common body of code.
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