Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

Hi everyone,
Please Notice that the examples for this book u can download @ http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596001292.On the Middle Right u can find the Essential links where u can download the examples/ Full Code mentioned for this Book.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

Mastering Oracle SQL by Sanjay Mishra and Alan Beaulieu published by O'Reilly is a great book for exploring the intricacies of Oracle SQL and particularly version 9ias as it relates to the SQL92 standard. SQL is not a glamorous programming language, but the authors make it accessible without talking down to their intended audience or presenting examples that are too simplistic. Like all O'Reilly books, the material is well presented, the authors can program as well as write, and the book has a very consistent and pleasing look.

The first chapters are introductory and review material. There is a short section on the history of SQL along with a bit of theory regarding relational database management systems. This section covers the basic DML statements, the WHERE clause, joins, group functions, subqueries, date formatting and date manipulation. This is what I would define as the heart of SQL, and the tools that most SQL programmers use every day. The chapters follow a basic formula: the topic is presented using traditional Oracle SQL, and then presented again using the newer adherence to the ANSI SQL92 standard. The two methods are compared and contrasted.

The next section is about getting the best from SQL. Presented in these chapters are set operations, hierarchical queries, partitions, objects and collections. This section is more focused to the newer versions of the ORACLE RDBMS. Programmers still using the older versions will find fewer things they can actually use, but this section does a good job of taking the reader beyond what they have encountered in school or training classes.

I was surprised to see a chapter on PL/SQL, the procedural extension of SQL; a subject large enough for complete books, and a language with its own intricacies and gotchas. As the focus is on SQL this chapter shows how PL/SQL and SQL interact, rather than delving deeply into PL/SQL.

The chapter that interested me the most was 14: Best Practices. A constant challenge facing many SQL programmers is finding ways to write code that is faster. This chapter does a good job of explaining why certain SQL statements execute faster than others, resulting in large increases in efficiency.

Synopsis

This is a very good book for SQL users who use the latest versions of ORACLE products at work, and want to start out creating the best possible SQL code right away. The time spent reading this book is very rewarding, and can be applied immediately to business situations encountered every day.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

A very good read, packed with good examples. However, we need scripts to create the tables used in all those wonderful examples -- how else are we to practice what we've just learned? Those scripts should be made available online.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

I purchased ‘Mastering Oracle SQL' two weeks ago. Having worked with Oracle for the past six years, I found the book an excellent guide to reinforce my SQL knowledge. The book details various SQL functions etc. in detail and would highly recommend it to anyone presently working with Oracle SQL or entering the world of Oracle. ‘Mastering Oracle SQL' really gives you value for money. Unfortunately, unlike other books that I have purchased on Oracle, the scripts to create the tables which is useful to newcomers who want to practice code used in the book or sample code from the book is not available from the authors or the publishers web site. This is the only downside of the book.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

Excellent, excellent, excellent! For an experienced SQL programmer, a delight to read. Even a few ideas not easily found elsewhere, can make a difference. Emphasis on inline views alone worth the price of book.

Gently introduces terms like "anti-join" in a very practical context, making them uniquely understandable.

Lack of coverage of MERGE ("UPSERT") statement, new in 9i, deplorable; it is useful not just in data warehousing.

And here's a trick from me: to insert a record without error if it already exists,

INSERT ALL INTO tab

(

a ,

b

)

SELECT

'foo' ,

'bar'

FROM

dual

WHERE

( NOT EXISTS

(

SELECT

1

FROM

tab

WHERE

( a = 'foo' )

AND

( b = 'bar' )

)

)

;

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

This is the best book for learning the SQL. It clears all the doubts that you have regarding the SQL queries and it can really be like a ready reference. Lots of examples make this book a very nice companion for the developers.

A Must Buy for all who are enthusiastic for learning good SQL concepts.

Comments about O'Reilly Media Mastering Oracle SQL:

Hi its a great book so far very helpful if your starting into oracle sql...