Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide

Lynn Beighley

"O'Reilly Media, Inc.", Aug 28, 2007 - Computers - 608 pages

Is your data dragging you down? Are your tables all tangled up? Well we've got the tools to teach you just how to wrangle your databases into submission. Using the latest research in neurobiology, cognitive science, and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory SQL learning experience, Head First SQL has a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

Maybe you've written some simple SQL queries to interact with databases. But now you want more, you want to really dig into those databases and work with your data. Head First SQL will show you the fundamentals of SQL and how to really take advantage of it. We'll take you on a journey through the language, from basic INSERT statements and SELECT queries to hardcore database manipulation with indices, joins, and transactions. We all know "Data is Power" - but we'll show you how to have "Power over your Data". Expect to have fun, expect to learn, and expect to be querying, normalizing, and joining your data like a pro by the time you're finished reading!

Contents

• x: 1
• To add data to your table youll use the INSERT statement: 34
• data: 53
• 3: 119
• Why be normal?: 159
• Atomic data: 168
• Reasons to be normal: 174
• Getting to NORMAL: 181
• Adding a PRIMARY KEY to an existing table: 192
• ALTER: 197
• advanced SELECT: 235
• Sometimes your single table isnt big enough anymore: 281
• interestsint_id interests Third normal form at last: 336
• joins and multitable operations: 343
• table of contents: 379
• Subqueries: 386
• A subquery construction walkthrough: 394
• Choosing the best way to query: 400
• Correlated subqueries: 408
• New maneuvers: 417
• Outer joins and multiple matches: 425
• How the new table fits in: 431
• You can use a UNION: 437
• Were done with joins time to move on to: 443
• table of contents: 455
• CHECKing the gender: 461
• What your view is actually doing: 467
• column1 column2 column3: 468
• View with CHECK OPTION: 475
• What should have happened inside the ATM: 485
• security: 493
• Decide exactly what the user needs: 499
• REVOKING a used GRANT OPTION: 505
• Using your role: 512
• Combining CREATE USER and GRANT: 519
• table of contents: 525
• mySQL installation: 543
• All your new SQL tools: 551
• hooptie table into a date magnet: 559

About the author

Lynn Beighley is a fiction writer stuck in a technical book writer's body. Upon discovering that technical book writing actually paid real money, she learned to accept and enjoy it. After going back to school to get a Masters in Computer Science, she worked for the acronyms NRL and LANL. Then she discovered Flash, and wrote her first bestseller. A victim of bad timing, she moved to Silicon Valley just before the great crash. She spent several years working for Yahoo! and writing other books and training courses. Finally giving in to her creative writing bent, she moved to the New York area to get an MFA in Creative Writing. Her Head First-style thesis was delivered to a packed room of professors and fellow students. It was extremely well received, and she finished her degree, finished Head First SQL, and can't wait to begin her next book. Lynn loves traveling, cooking, and making up elaborate background stories about complete strangers. She's a little scared of clowns.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide; Head First
• Author: Lynn Beighley
• Edition: revised
• Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc.", 2007
• ISBN: 1449360440, 9781449360443
• Length: 608 pages
• Subjects: Computers / Data Science / Data Analytics; Computers / Database Administration & Management; Computers / General; Computers / Languages / General; Computers / Languages / SQL