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It is great for beginner and intermediate level users. This is a great reference for all platforms for SQL 2005. Everything is right at your fingertips and easy to find; and also well indexed.
I highly recommend this small powerful reference book. This book is small and pocketable and has provided me with the support I was looking for. I was looking for a small SQL command resource and this fit the bill perfectly. The O'Reily series has never failed to hit the mark as a first class reference source.
But overall this book is a good reference guide for someone who is familiar with SQL, but needs a little assistance now and then. The examples aren't very clear, however, so you have to understand what the statements are dealing with, and the topics don't seem to be arranged appropriately (deleting and truncating are contained in two separate places in the book). As a systems admin, I find this book a great reference guide for writing SQL scripts. The instructions are clear and concise and cover most common situations.
I keep it where I can reach it on a moment's notice. This is very useful.
For those "Now, how do I write that." moments, this book can save you HOURS. I was so impressed with this book. I own BOTH the 1st & 2nd editions. Due to my extensive use of the 1st edition, I purchased the 2nd edition released in 2006.
NOT SO in the new 2nd edition. "SQL Pocket Guide - 2nd Edition" is a short reference book for SQL DML (Data Manipulation Language), transaction control statements, datatypes, datatype conversion, table creation, and table modification. I also like seeing the different examples and sample result sets for the different platforms. It's on my desk, in my bag, and travels with me on location. The layout of the 2nd edition has been reorganized alphabetically by keyword and now covers: Oracle 10g including Oracle Express Ed, Microsoft SQL Server 2005, IBM DB2 release 8.2, MySQL 5.0, and PostgreSQL 8.1. This is MUCH MUCH easier and faster.
In fact, it is never on the book shelf. As the title indicates, this book is a "Pocket Guide" for the 4 major database platforms (Oracle, MS SQL Server, MySQL, and DB2). This was a complaint in other reviews specific to the 1st ed., as missing. Also new in the 2nd ed. The new edition still has a very good Index, if you can't find what you're looking for on a flip-through pass. As the layout of the 2nd edition has dramatically changed since the 1st edition and is now organized alphabetically by keyword (the keyword represented on each page is listed at the bottom of the page), you can quickly find the page you're looking for by flipping through the book and looking at the bottom right corner of the page. I actually bought TWO copies of the 2nd edition -- one for me and one for a co-worker -- AND passed my 1st edition on to another co-worker. If the book doesn't cover what I'm looking for, I can always go to a more extensive reference book.
DO NOT EXPECT this book to be a complete reference or learning guide. I work on a variety of database platforms with the 2 biggies being MS SQL Server & Oracle. PLEASE CHECK THE DATE OF THE REVIEW YOU'RE READING to ensure it pertains to the 2nd edition. Like most pocket guides, only people that already know the topic will find this text most useful. is an extensive listing of datatypes, datatype conversions, and syntax variation for table creation and modification. This book provides me with an extremely efficient way to "refresh" my memory and because it covers the 4 major platforms, I'm usually covered with this ONE small book. This is the single most used book in my library. I know the language, but at times can forget the exact syntax needed for the platform I'm working with.
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