Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes Description:
Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes review:5 stars (Fantastic Book for an Advanced Beginner) - My favorite feature of this book is the emphasis on defining basic concepts clearly and in a logical order. I've bought a number of these self-teaching computer books over the years (several on Access), and this is the first one I've gotten any real good out of. I'm half way through, and find I'm learning a lot about databases and how they work, not just the SQL language.
I've been writing databases in Access for years and always found it a struggle. I'm having a much better time with that now, and I've got to believe it's due to studying the materials in this book. I'm half way through the book and still going strong. I never made it more that 25 pages into any of the other books I bought. Maybe I won't have to go take an SQL class at the local community college after all! That should tell the story right there.4 stars (Takes longer then 10 but great) - This is an excellent reference and quit source for anyone trying to get the feel for SQL programming. Simple enough for a novice user and techical enough to more seasoned. I would recommend it to anyone using databases.4 stars (Great for Beginner or Refresher for casual SQL user.) - This is a great quick book for a beginner or casual SQL user. I don't use heavy sql everyday so I often forget syntax especially when working between different DB environments. This book is a quick refresher that allows me to pick it up and find what I need right away. The chapters are split into specific funtions (i.e. inserts, queries, grouping etc...) So you know exactly where to look.
For a beginner the cost to familiarize oneself can't be beat. I would buy this book before the more expensive learning books because this one hits the raw basics without diverging into other topics and causing confusion.
