A Primer on SQL
A Primer on SQL
Third Edition
About the Book
An introduction to the basics of SQL. No prior experience with SQL is necessary, but some knowledge of working with computers in general is required. My purpose of writing this was to provide a gentle tutorial on the syntax of SQL, so that the reader is able to recognize the parts of queries they encounter and even be able to write simple SQL statements and queries themselves. The book however is not intended as a reference work or for a full time database administrator since it does not have an exaustive topic coverage.
Table of Contents
- Preface
- About the author
- Acknowledgements
-
1. An Introduction to SQL
- 1.1 SQL Commands Classification
- 1.2 Explaining Tables
-
2. Getting your database ready
- 2.1 Using Ingres
- 2.2 Using SQLite
- 2.3 Creating your own database
- 2.4 Table Creation
- 2.5 Inserting data
- 2.6 Writing your first query
-
3. Constraints
- 3.1 Selective fields INSERT
- 3.2 Primary Key Constraint
- 3.3 Unique Key Constraint
- 3.4 Differences between a Primary Key and a Unique Key
-
4. Operations on Tables
- 4.1 Dropping Tables
- 4.2 Creating new tables from existing tables
- 4.3 Modifying tables
- 4.4 Verifying the result in Ingres
- 4.5 Verifying the result in other DBMS’s
- 4.6 Showing table information in SQLite
-
5. Writing Basic Queries
- 5.1 Selecting a limited number of columns
- 5.2 Ordering the results
- 5.3 Ordering using field abbreviations
- 5.4 Putting conditions with WHERE
- 5.5 Combining conditions
-
6. Manipulating Data
- 6.1 Inserting NULL’s
- 6.2 Inserting data into a table from another table
- 6.3 Updating existing data
- 6.4 Deleting data from tables
-
7. Organizing your data
- 7.1 Normalization
- 7.2 Atomicity
- 7.3 Repeating Groups
- 7.4 Splitting the table
-
8. Doing more with queries
- 8.1 Counting the records in a table
- 8.2 Column Aliases
- 8.3 Order of execution of SELECT queries
- 8.4 Using the LIKE operator
-
9. Calculated Fields
- 9.1 Mathematical calculations
- 9.2 String operations
- 9.3 Literal Values
-
10. Aggregation and Grouping
- 10.1 Aggregate Functions
- 10.2 Using DISTINCT with COUNT
- 10.3 Using MIN to find minimum values
- 10.4 Grouping Data
- 10.5 The HAVING Clause
-
11. Understanding Joins
- 11.1 What is a Join?
- 11.2 Alternative Join Syntax
- 11.3 Resolving ambiguity in join columns
- 11.4 Cross Joins
- 11.5 Self Joins
-
12. Subqueries
- 12.1 Types of subqueries
- 12.2 Using subqueries in INSERT statements
- Further Reading
- Appendix: Major Database Management Systems
- Glossary
Other books by this author
The Leanpub 60 Day 100% Happiness Guarantee
Within 60 days of purchase you can get a 100% refund on any Leanpub purchase, in two clicks.
Now, this is technically risky for us, since you'll have the book or course files either way. But we're so confident in our products and services, and in our authors and readers, that we're happy to offer a full money back guarantee for everything we sell.
You can only find out how good something is by trying it, and because of our 100% money back guarantee there's literally no risk to do so!
So, there's no reason not to click the Add to Cart button, is there?
See full terms...
Earn $8 on a $10 Purchase, and $16 on a $20 Purchase
We pay 80% royalties on purchases of $7.99 or more, and 80% royalties minus a 50 cent flat fee on purchases between $0.99 and $7.98. You earn $8 on a $10 sale, and $16 on a $20 sale. So, if we sell 5000 non-refunded copies of your book for $20, you'll earn $80,000.
(Yes, some authors have already earned much more than that on Leanpub.)
In fact, authors have earnedover $13 millionwriting, publishing and selling on Leanpub.
Learn more about writing on Leanpub
Free Updates. DRM Free.
If you buy a Leanpub book, you get free updates for as long as the author updates the book! Many authors use Leanpub to publish their books in-progress, while they are writing them. All readers get free updates, regardless of when they bought the book or how much they paid (including free).
Most Leanpub books are available in PDF (for computers) and EPUB (for phones, tablets and Kindle). The formats that a book includes are shown at the top right corner of this page.
Finally, Leanpub books don't have any DRM copy-protection nonsense, so you can easily read them on any supported device.
Learn more about Leanpub's ebook formats and where to read them