Like many people, you might be a self-learner who likes some practical stuff to explore a technology. Although its a little painful route, you can get through it and achieve your milestone if you possess strong determination and are fortunate enough to get some real good material on the subject. In this publication Ive tried to save your precious time by providing such hands-on stuff on SQL. I wont take you in the past to tell something that is of no interest to you today (at least as a beginner). But, felling the necessity, Ill provide a little background of SQL and will cover some preliminary concepts that you must know. This chapter will really pay off if you grasp the basic concepts about database and SQL.

First of all, lets come to the word SQL. Many people say that this acronym stands for Structured Query Language, and some are of opinion that it should be read individually as ess-que-el or as sequel. Leaving this debate aside, lets see why and when this useful language was initiated. In June 1970, Dr. E. F. Codd published the principles of the relational model, wherein he proposed the relational model for database systems. Along with definition of the relational model, he also suggested a language called DSL/Alpha for data manipulation in database tables. After the release of Codds paper, IBM formed a team to build a prototype of DSL/Alpha based on Codds proposal. The team got success in this endeavor and developed the first version named SQUARE, which finally got the name SQL.

While SQL has become a very stable language today, you must know that all SQL implementations are not created equal. Almost all database vendors support the latest SQL standard (published by American National Standards Institute ANSI), but most vendors have added extensions to make their implementations more powerful or easier to use. These extensions are fairly similar across different platforms, and once you have become proficient with the SQL language on one DBMS platform, you can switch to other platforms without any difficulty. For your convenience, Ive explicitly covered a free Oracle platform in this book besides the following database management systems. I have provided specific instructions for these platforms, where needed.

- Oracle
- MySQL
- Microsoft SQL Server
- Microsoft Access
- IBM DB2
- MariaDB
- PostgreSQL
- SQLite

This book is meant to help you learn SQL quickly by yourself, therefore, youll be provided instructions to set up free Oracle environment on your own PC to execute hands-on exercises for learning purposes.

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (May 29, 2015)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1514130971
ISBN-13: 978-1514130971