Book Review - Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide by Lynn Beighley
Category Book Review
I haven't met a Head First/Head Rush title I didn't like, and this one is no exception... Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide by Lynn Beighley. It's perfect for someone diving into the world of relational databases for the first time, as well as those who don't do it often enough to feel comfortable with things like normalized forms and outer joins. And along the way, you'll have plenty of fun picking up the skills you lack/need to reinforce.
Contents:
Intro; Data and Tables - A Place for Everything; The SELECT Statement - Gifted Data Retrieval; DELETE and UPDATE - A Change Will Do You Good; Smart Table Design - Why Be Normal?; ALTER - Rewriting the Past; Advanced SELECT - Seeing Your Data With New Eyes; Multi-table Database Design - Outgrowing Your Table; Joins and Multi-table Operations - Can't We All Just Get Along?; Subqueries - Queries Within Queries; Outer Joins, Self Joins, and Unions - New Maneuvers; Constraints, Views, and Transactions - Too Many Cooks Spoil The Database; Security - Protecting Your Assets; The Top Ten Topics (We Didn't Cover); Try It Out For Yourself; All Your New SQL Tools
As with all Head First titles, Head First SQL sets out to engage all your senses during the learning process. Unusual diagrams, questions, exercises, and off-beat pictures are just some of the ways that the author works to grab your attention and force you down the path of learning (whether it feels like you're going down that path or not). The mixture of these techniques means that your mind doesn't really have a chance to drift off and start thinking about what you're going to have for dinner. It's this style that makes the Head First series the first one I'll recommend to people setting out to learn a new skill.
For those who are wondering, Head First SQL uses the free MySQL package for all the examples and exercises. It's not necessary to have some expensive relational database system already installed on your PC. So even if your SQL learning efforts are self-funded, the total outlay will pretty much be the cost of the book, and that's it. And given that SQL is a standard query language, much of what you learn will also transfer over to any other relational database system you end up using down the road, like Oracle or DB2.
Since I've done some SQL in the past, I found most of the value for myself located in the later chapters. Working with subqueries and more complex joins aren't things I do on a regular basis, so it's easy for me to forget the concepts. But a quick flip here, and it all starts coming back, much clearer than before.
There's a reason I rarely loan out my Head First titles... they often don't come back. This will be added to that lock-and-key section of my bookshelf that requires DNA samples before they leave the premises. :)
I haven't met a Head First/Head Rush title I didn't like, and this one is no exception... Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL -- A Learner's Guide by Lynn Beighley. It's perfect for someone diving into the world of relational databases for the first time, as well as those who don't do it often enough to feel comfortable with things like normalized forms and outer joins. And along the way, you'll have plenty of fun picking up the skills you lack/need to reinforce.
Contents:
Intro; Data and Tables - A Place for Everything; The SELECT Statement - Gifted Data Retrieval; DELETE and UPDATE - A Change Will Do You Good; Smart Table Design - Why Be Normal?; ALTER - Rewriting the Past; Advanced SELECT - Seeing Your Data With New Eyes; Multi-table Database Design - Outgrowing Your Table; Joins and Multi-table Operations - Can't We All Just Get Along?; Subqueries - Queries Within Queries; Outer Joins, Self Joins, and Unions - New Maneuvers; Constraints, Views, and Transactions - Too Many Cooks Spoil The Database; Security - Protecting Your Assets; The Top Ten Topics (We Didn't Cover); Try It Out For Yourself; All Your New SQL Tools
As with all Head First titles, Head First SQL sets out to engage all your senses during the learning process. Unusual diagrams, questions, exercises, and off-beat pictures are just some of the ways that the author works to grab your attention and force you down the path of learning (whether it feels like you're going down that path or not). The mixture of these techniques means that your mind doesn't really have a chance to drift off and start thinking about what you're going to have for dinner. It's this style that makes the Head First series the first one I'll recommend to people setting out to learn a new skill.
For those who are wondering, Head First SQL uses the free MySQL package for all the examples and exercises. It's not necessary to have some expensive relational database system already installed on your PC. So even if your SQL learning efforts are self-funded, the total outlay will pretty much be the cost of the book, and that's it. And given that SQL is a standard query language, much of what you learn will also transfer over to any other relational database system you end up using down the road, like Oracle or DB2.
Since I've done some SQL in the past, I found most of the value for myself located in the later chapters. Working with subqueries and more complex joins aren't things I do on a regular basis, so it's easy for me to forget the concepts. But a quick flip here, and it all starts coming back, much clearer than before.
There's a reason I rarely loan out my Head First titles... they often don't come back. This will be added to that lock-and-key section of my bookshelf that requires DNA samples before they leave the premises. :)
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