SQL in a Nutshell

For programmers, analysts, and database administrators, SQL in a Nutshell is the essential reference for the SQL language used in today's most popular database products. This new edition clearly documents every SQL command according to the latest ANSI standard, and details how those commands are implemented in Microsoft SQL Server 2008, Oracle 11g, and the MySQL 5.1 and PostgreSQL 8.3 open source database products. You'll also get a concise overview of the Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) model, and a clear-cut explanation of foundational RDBMS concepts — all packed into a succinct, comprehensive, and easy-to-use format. This book provides:

• Background on the Relational Database Model, including current and previous SQL standards
• Fundamental concepts necessary for understanding relational databases and SQL commands
• An alphabetical command reference to SQL statements, according to the SQL2003 ANSI standard
• The implementation of each command by MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server
• An alphabetical reference of the ANSI SQL2003 functions, as well as the vendor implementations
• Platform-specific functions unique to each implementation

Beginning where vendor documentation ends, SQL in a Nutshell distills the experiences of professional database administrators and developers who have used SQL variants to support complex enterprise applications. Whether SQL is new to you, or you've been using SQL since its earliest days, you'll get lots of new tips and techniques in this book.

SQL in a Nutshell applies the eminently useful "Nutshell" format to Structured Query Language (SQL), the elegant—but complex—descriptive language that is used to create and manipulate large stores of data. For SQL programmers, analysts, and database administrators, the new second edition of SQL in a Nutshell is the essential date language reference for the world's top SQL database products. SQL in a Nutshell is focused, and thoroughly comprehensive reference for those who live in a deadline-driven world. This invaluable desktop quick reference drills down and documents every SQL command and how to use it in both commercial (Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server) and MySQL). It describes every command and reference and includes the command syntax (by vendor, if the syntax differs across implementations), a clear description, and practical examples that illustrate important concepts and uses. And it also explains how the leading commercial and open sources database product implement SQL. This wealth of information is packed into a succinct, comprehensive, and extraordinarily easy-to-use format that covers the SQL syntax of no less than 4 different databases. When you need fast, accurate, detailed, and up-to-date SQL information, SQL in a Nutshell, Third Edition will be the quick reference you'll reach for every time. SQL in a Nutshell is small enough to keep by your keyboard, and concise (as well as clearly organized) enough that you can look up the syntax you need quickly without having to wade through a lot of useless fluff. You won't want to work on a project involving SQL without it.

Kevin Kline is the Director of SQL Server Solutions at Quest Software, a leading provider of award winning tools for database management and application monitoring on the SQL Server platform. Kevin is also the President of the international Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) and frequently contributes to database technology magazines, web sites, and discussion forums. Kevin's most popular book is SQL in a Nutshell published by O'Reilly Media. Kevin is also the author of Transact-SQL Programming and three other books on database technologies. Kevin is a top rated speaker, appearing at international conferences like Microsoft TechEd, DevTeach, PASS, Microsoft IT Forum, and SQL Connections. When he's not working, Kevin likes to romance his wife, play to his four kids, write, and garden.

Daniel T. Kline (Ph.D., Indiana University, 1997) specializes Middle English literature and culture; Chaucer; literary and cultural theory; critical pedagogy; and digital medievalism. Among others, his publications include essays in Chaucer Review, College Literature, Comparative Drama, the Journal of English and Germanic Philology, Philological Quarterly, and Literary and Linguistic Computing, and recent chapters in the Cambridge Companion to Medieval Women (Cambridge, 2003), Translating Desire in Medieval and Early Modern Literature (MRTS, 2005), Mass Market Medievalism (McFarland, 2007), Essays on Medieval Childhood: Responses to Recent Debates (Shaun Tyas, 2007), and Cultural Studies of the Modern Middle Ages (Palgrave, 2007). He edited Medieval Children's Literature (Routledge, 2003) and is co-editing The Medieval in Motion, a volume on contemporary film, TV, and videogame neo-medievalism. His current research concerns children, violence, and sacrifice in late-medieval England, and he has essays forthcoming on Emmanuel Levinas and medieval drama and the apocryphal Infancy of Jesus Christ in MS Laud 108. Prof. Kline is an Associate Professor of English and Chair of the Graduate Program in English at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He is also the author/webmaster of The Electronic Canterbury Tales .

Brand Hunt is a Project Manager and Software Developer at Systems Research and Development (http://srdsoftware.com). The team at SRD is a world leader in systems for privacy-friendly identity recognition and relationship awareness. Prior to SRD, Brand worked at Rogue Wave software. Beyond work, Brand enjoys playing board games, pinochle, and snowboarding with his family and friends.