SQL in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself

PART I: AN SQL CONCEPTS OVERVIEW
Hour 1: Welcome to the World of SQL 1
SQL Definition and History 1
SQL Sessions 8
Types of SQL Commands 8
Canary Airlines: The Database Used in This Book 11
Summary 15
Q&A 16
Workshop 16

PART II: BUILDING YOUR DATABASE
Hour 2: Defining Data Structures 19
What Is Data? 19
Basic Data Types 20
Summary 28
Q&A 29
Workshop 29
Hour 3: Managing Database Objects 33
Database Objects and Schema 33
Tables: The Primary Storage for Data 35
Integrity Constraints 44
Summary 49
Q&A 50
Workshop 50
Hour 4: The Normalization Process 55
Normalizing a Database 55
Denormalizing a Database 63
Summary 64
Q&A 64
Workshop 64
Hour 5: Manipulating Data 67
Overview of Data Manipulation 67
Populating Tables with New Data 68
Updating Existing Data 73
Deleting Data from Tables 75
Summary 76
Q&A 77
Workshop 77
Hour 6: Managing Database Transactions 81
What Is a Transaction? 81
Controlling Transactions 82
Poor Transactional Control 90
Summary 90
Q&A 90
Workshop 91

PART III: GETTING EFFECTIVE RESULTS FROM QUERIES
Hour 7: Introduction to Database Queries 93
The SELECT Statement 93
Case-Sensitivity 101
Fundamentals of Query Writing 102
Summary 106
Q&A 106
Workshop 107
Hour 8: Using Operators to Categorize Data 109
What Is an Operator in SQL? 109
Comparison Operators 110
Logical Operators 113
Conjunctive Operators 120
Negative Operators 123
Arithmetic Operators 128
Summary 130
Q&A 131
Workshop 131
Hour 9: Summarizing Data Results from a Query 133
Aggregate Functions 133
Summary 141
Q&A 142
Workshop 142
Hour 10: Sorting and Grouping Data 145
Why Group Data? 145
The GROUP BY Clause 146
GROUP BY Versus ORDER BY 150
CUBE and ROLLUP Expressions 153
The HAVING Clause 155
Summary 156
Q&A 157
Workshop 157
Hour 11: Restructuring the Appearance of Data 159
ANSI Character Functions 159
Common Character Functions 160
Miscellaneous Character Functions 169
Mathematical Functions 172
Conversion Functions 173
Combining Character Functions 176
Summary 177
Q&A 177
Workshop 178
Hour 12: Understanding Dates and Times 181
How Is a Date Stored? 181
Date Functions 183
Date Conversions 188
Summary 193
Q&A 194
Workshop 194

PART IV: BUILDING SOPHISTICATED DATABASE QUERIES
Hour 13: Joining Tables in Queries 197
Selecting Data from Multiple Tables 197
Understanding Joins 198
Join Considerations 207
Summary 210
Q&A 210
Workshop 211
Hour 14: Using Subqueries to Define Unknown Data 213
What Is a Subquery? 213
Embedded Subqueries 219
Correlated Subqueries 223
Subquery Performance 225
Summary 225
Q&A 226
Workshop 226
Hour 15: Combining Multiple Queries into One 229
Single Queries Versus Compound Queries 229
Compound Query Operators 230
Using ORDER BY with a Compound Query 235
Using GROUP BY with a Compound Query 237
Retrieving Accurate Data 238
Summary 239
Q&A 239
Workshop 240

PART V: SQL PERFORMANCE TUNING
Hour 16: Using Indexes to Improve Performance 243
What Is an Index? 243
How Do Indexes Work? 244
The CREATE INDEX Command 245
Types of Indexes 245
When Should Indexes Be Considered? 248
When Should Indexes Be Avoided? 248
Altering an Index 250
Dropping an Index 250
Summary 251
Q&A 251
Workshop 252
Hour 17: Improving Database Performance 253
What Is SQL Statement Tuning? 253
Database Tuning Versus SQL Statement Tuning 254
Formatting Your SQL Statement 254
Full Table Scans 260
Other Performance Considerations 261
Cost-Based Optimization 264
Summary 266
Q&A 266
Workshop 266

PART VI: USING SQL TO MANAGE USERS AND SECURITY
Hour 18: Managing Database Users 269
User Management in the Database 269
The Management Process 272
Tools Utilized by Database Users 279
Summary 279
Q&A 280
Workshop 280
Hour 19: Managing Database Security 283
What Is Database Security? 283
What Are Privileges? 284
Controlling User Access 287
Controlling Privileges Through Roles 291
Summary 293
Q&A 293
Workshop 294

PART VII: SUMMARIZED DATA STRUCTURES
Hour 20: Creating and Using Views and Synonyms 297
What Is a View? 297
Creating Views 300
Updating Data Through a View 307
Dropping a View 307
Performance Impact of Nested Views 308
What Is a Synonym? 308
Summary 310
Q&A 310
Workshop 311
Hour 21: Working with the System Catalog 313
What Is the System Catalog? 313
How Is the System Catalog Created? 314
What Is Contained in the System Catalog? 315
System Catalog Tables by Implementation 316
Querying the System Catalog 317
Updating System Catalog Objects 320
Summary 320
Q&A 321
Workshop 321

PART VIII: APPLYING SQL FUNDAMENTALS IN TODAY'S WORLD
Hour 22: Advanced SQL Topics 323
Cursors 323
Stored Procedures and Functions 326
Triggers 329
Dynamic SQL 331
Call-Level Interface 331
Using SQL to Generate SQL 332
Direct Versus Embedded SQL 333
Windowed Table Functions 333
Working with XML 334
Summary 335
Q&A 335
Workshop 336
Hour 23: Extending SQL to the Enterprise, the Internet, and the Intranet 337
SQL and the Enterprise 337
Accessing a Remote Database 339
SQL and the Internet 342
SQL and the Intranet 343
Summary 344
Q&A 344
Workshop 344
Hour 24: Extensions to Standard SQL 347
Various Implementations 347
Example Extensions 350
Interactive SQL Statements 353
Summary 354
Q&A 354
Workshop 355

PART IX: APPENDIXES
Appendix A: Common SQL Commands 357
SQL Statements 357
SQL Clauses 360
Appendix B: Installing Oracle and Microsoft SQL 363
Windows Installation Instructions for Oracle 363
Windows Installation Instructions for Microsoft SQL Server 365
Appendix C: Answers to Quizzes and Exercises 369
Hour 1, "Welcome to the World of SQL" 369
Hour 2, "Defining Data Structures" 371
Hour 3, "Managing Database Objects" 373
Hour 4, "The Normalization Process" 374
Hour 5, "Manipulating Data" 376
Hour 6, "Managing Database Transactions" 379
Hour 7, "Introduction to the Database Queries" 380
Hour 8, "Using Operators to Categorize Data" 383
Hour 9, "Summarizing Data Results from a Query" 386
Hour 10, "Sorting and Grouping Data" 388
Hour 11, "Restructuring the Appearance of Data" 390
Hour 12, "Understanding Dates and Times" 391
Hour 13, "Joining Tables in Queries" 392
Hour 14, "Using Subqueries to Define Unknown Data" 394
Hour 15, "Combining Multiple Queries into One" 396
Hour 16, "Using Indexes to Improve Performance" 397
Hour 17, "Improving Database Performance" 399
Hour 18, "Managing Database Users" 403
Hour 19, "Managing Database Security" 404
Hour 20, "Creating and Using Views and Synonyms" 404
Hour 21, "Working with the System Catalog" 406
Hour 22, "Advanced SQL Topics" 407
Hour 23, "Extending SQL to the Enterprise, the Internet, and the Intranet" 408
Hour 24, "Extensions to Standard SQL" 409
Appendix D: Bonus Exercises 411
Appendix E: Glossary 425
Index 429