Ben Forta has a commendable honesty about him. He explains the intent of his books clearly in their Introductions and then proceeds to deliver just that. In this instance, Forta is clear that the book is for those new to SQL and who quickly want to learn how to get the most out of SQL. He is equally clear that the book does not cover every last aspect of SQL.

The book is becoming a bit long in tooth since it has not been updted since 2004. DBMSs covered are IBM DB2, Microsoft Access, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL (Version 4), Oracle, PostgreSQL, Sybase Adaptive Server. Some of the information is now outdated and MySQL v5 has added new capabilities. On the whole, though, everything Forta presents here is still usable.

In 22 chapters, Forta teaches the reader the basics of SQL, more than enough to deal with perhaps 80% or more of common SQL requirements. Beyond that and you're in the realm of system architects and administrators who are simply not the audience for this book.

Be sure to download the sample databases and errata from the author's website.

On the whole, one of the best introductions to SQL available.

Jerry

When I went for a job interview a few months ago all I knew about SQL was that it had something to do with databases. When I informed the interviewer I didn't know SQL, the look on his face let me know I was doomed. So as soon as I left that interview I got online and purchased this book determined to learn as much as I can, in an inexpensive way, and quickly. Wow! This book turned out to be all of those things. It is very easy to understand and made SQL seem like a breeze. I loved the examples and plan to purchase an intermediate-advanced SQL book very soon. Hope SAMS Teach Yourself can help me out with one of those too. With their help I think I can add 'knowlege of SQL' on my resume.

Good intro and you do learn the language and how to understand and write it by using this book

SQL in 10 minutes?? ......I thought this guy was kidding. He wasn't. The main reason why I couldn't get a job was because I didn't know SQL, within one hour I read the book, tried all the examples, wrote SQL on my resume, applied for a job and got the job the next day requiring SQL experience :)

This language is so easy to learn, it feels more like an application than a programming language. It seems as though the whole language is really just 3 words, select, from & where, although I'm still new and theres probably a tonne more but I didn't need to know that to get the job.

Compare it to learning c,c++, Fortran and other languages for the first time where you learn to define variables, learn the functions, test cases, inputs, outputs, etc, etc. SQL you pretty much type in the inputs and you receive the outputs...its a really intuitive language, anyone can start learning within minutes. Highly recommend this book, its also probably the best quick reference out there if you need to solve a particular problem.

This is a true beginner's book. This is a book for people who know nothing about SQL. It is very helpful for starters.