[RESOLVED] Suggested SQL reading?

[Magfersile]

I'm looking to get my hands on a good SQL book. Ideally, one that has fairly easy to understand examples and will also be a good reference once I become an SQL Ninja. Any suggestions?

[bpat1434]

Learning SQL from O'Reilly by Alan Bealieu. It's a pretty good reference for me now, and the examples were really easy to understand.

[Magfersile]

Thanks for your input. Do you think that it would be better than the SAMS Teach Yourself in 24 hours books? I've done a little research and I've seen quite a few people that have said those are good books. Although, O'Reilly does make books with random critters on the front cover.. Hmm...

[bpat1434]

I've never been a fan of "Teach Yourself in 24 hours" as you really can't learn anything in 24 hours. You might get an idea of how things work, but you won't truly understand them. That takes a bit more than 24 hours of work. I think I read the Learning SQL book through the course of a week or two and never did any of the examples but learned a lot.

Whatever book you choose, make sure it teaches you the SQL standard basics and not the MySQL or Postgre or MS or Oracle only extensions to the SQL language. Otherwise, you're pigeonholing yourself to use that one RDBMS instead of being able to write portable code.

NOTE: Learning SQL does go over the SQL Standard and has a section about the MySQL Extensions. Also, any derivations by Oracle, MSSQL, Postgre or MySQL are noted about in the text.

[Magfersile]

Thanks for your input bpat. I think I'll check out the Learning SQL book and start from there. Thanks again. :)

[kilo dB]

You may also try Janet Valade's PHP & MySQL for dummies--really. Take a look at her site (http://www.janet.valade.com/) for the book's examples (in downloads) to see if itis advanced enough for you. It is especially good for PHP AND MySQL.