SQL Queries for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Data Manipulation in SQL, 3rd Edition

The #1 Easy, Common-Sense Guide to SQL Queries—Updated for Today’s Databases, Standards, and Challenges

SQL Queries for Mere Mortals ® has earned worldwide praise as the clearest, simplest tutorial on writing effective SQL queries. The authors have updated this hands-on classic to reflect new SQL standards and database applications and teach valuable new techniques.

Step by step, John L. Viescas and Michael J. Hernandez guide you through creating reliable queries for virtually any modern SQL-based database. They demystify all aspects of SQL query writing, from simple data selection and filtering to joining multiple tables and modifying sets of data.

Three brand-new chapters teach you how to solve a wide range of challenging SQL problems. You’ll learn how to write queries that apply multiple complex conditions on one table, perform sophisticated logical evaluations, and think “outside the box” using unlinked tables.

Coverage includes

• Getting started: understanding what relational databases are, and ensuring that your database structures are sound
• SQL basics: using SELECT statements, creating expressions, sorting information with ORDER BY, and filtering data using WHERE
• Summarizing and grouping data with GROUP BY and HAVING clauses
• Drawing data from multiple tables: using INNER JOIN, OUTER JOIN, and UNION operators, and working with subqueries
• Modifying data sets with UPDATE, INSERT, and DELETE statements Advanced queries: complex NOT and AND, conditions, if-then-else using CASE, unlinked tables, driver tables, and more

Practice all you want with downloadable sample databases for today’s versions of Microsoft Office Access, Microsoft SQL Server, and the open source MySQL database. Whether you’re a DBA, developer, user, or student, there’s no better way to master SQL.

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Table of Contents

Part I Relational Databases and SQL
Chapter 1 What Is Relational?
Chapter 2 Ensuring Your Database Structure Is Sound
Chapter 3 A Concise History of SQL

Part II SQL Basics
Chapter 4 Creating a Simple Query
Chapter 5 Getting More Than Simple Columns
Chapter 6 Filtering Your Data

Part III Working with Multiple Tables
Chapter 7 Thinking in Sets
Chapter 8 INNER JOINs
Chapter 9 OUTER JOINs
Chapter 10 UNIONs
Chapter 11 Subqueries

Part IV Summarizing and Grouping Data
Chapter 12 Simple Totals
Chapter 13 Grouping Data
Chapter 14 Filtering Grouped Data

Part V Modifying Sets of Data
Chapter 15 Updating Sets of Data
Chapter 16 Inserting Sets of Data
Chapter 17 Deleting Sets of Data

Part VI Introduction to Solving Tough Problems
Chapter 18 “NOT” and “AND” Problems
Chapter 19 Condition Testing
Chapter 20 Using Unlinked Data and “Driver” Tables