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Looking for a SQL Class/Group in San Francisco...
- Thread starter sam1one
- Start date
Stick around here and read all the threads (Start looking for the answers to the new ones) and FAQs. You'll get up to speed fairly rapidly. That's what I did.
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
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Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
- Thread starter
- #3
jbenson001
Programmer
I feel the best way to learn is to just trying doing what you need to do. You can post questions here for help. The people are great! As SQLSister said, read the threads and try to come up with answers and read the answers. I have leaned a ton here!
Jim
Jim
For even more fun, and a little 'light' reading, do this...
Click the 'Microsoft SQL Server: Programming' link in the threadminder list.
Then, just above where it says, 'Start New Thread', there is a box for 'show first'. To the right of that, there is a 'thread order' section. Click the little purple star to 'Order by most helpful threads'.
There is some REALLY interesting stuff in there. Happy reading.
-George
Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause. - Fortune cookie wisdom
Click the 'Microsoft SQL Server: Programming' link in the threadminder list.
Then, just above where it says, 'Start New Thread', there is a box for 'show first'. To the right of that, there is a 'thread order' section. Click the little purple star to 'Order by most helpful threads'.
There is some REALLY interesting stuff in there. Happy reading.
-George
Strong and bitter words indicate a weak cause. - Fortune cookie wisdom
Sorry sam1one, I live in Virginia Beach. Wrong Coast I'm afraid.
George, nice hint, I never noticed that one.
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
George, nice hint, I never noticed that one.
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
sam1one, are you familiar with any other database or is this your first real database experience?
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
- Thread starter
- #8
Hello:
Thank you all for your amazing replies! It is great to have support out there...
SQL Sister: I have worked with Access several years ago, but never really got a solid understanding of SQL, and did almost everything via the wizard w/o really writing any statements..
A silly question, but what is the difference between SQL and SQL Server? (while I know that SQL is the language that SQL Server uses). I am searching for a good reference book on SQL and not SQL Server/Oracle...Any recommendations?
Should I get one of those SQL for dummies books or something like that?
Thank you all very much!
sam1one
Thank you all for your amazing replies! It is great to have support out there...
SQL Sister: I have worked with Access several years ago, but never really got a solid understanding of SQL, and did almost everything via the wizard w/o really writing any statements..
A silly question, but what is the difference between SQL and SQL Server? (while I know that SQL is the language that SQL Server uses). I am searching for a good reference book on SQL and not SQL Server/Oracle...Any recommendations?
Should I get one of those SQL for dummies books or something like that?
Thank you all very much!
sam1one
Check out these weblinks:
This one is the best to check out....I already filled out the search criteria...scroll down to the bottom.
-SQLBill
Posting advice: FAQ481-4875
This one is the best to check out....I already filled out the search criteria...scroll down to the bottom.
-SQLBill
Posting advice: FAQ481-4875
SQL has different flavors for different databases. They are mostly pretty simliar. SO a query which works on SQL Server may not work on an Oracle database (although many of them will).
for some good reading material:
Useful Reference Books for SQL Server Professionals faq183-3324
I find O'Reilly books to be some fo the best - they cut to the chase.
Coming from an Access background there are some things you will need to learn that you may not have run across. First Access is both a database engine and a User interface. As such there are things it can do that don't translate well to SQL Server. For instance, You can put the form field in as a parameter in an Acess query, you cannot in SQL Server. You need to make it a variable and then use it as an input value for a stored procedure.
YOu should read about views and stored procedures in BOL. And really get to know the differences.
ALso in Access performance tuning is virtually impossible, but it is an important part of writing SQL for SQL Server. THe databases can be much larger so performance is critical. But don;t worry about this until you get somewhat of a handle on the basic syntax. Just be thinking about it as you go along.
ANother topic to look at right away is the subject of joins. Get to know them, how they work and why and how to properly use them in a statement. If you don;t use joins properly you end up with the wrong result set, something that may be hard to notice when you have 10 million records.
Check out the data types available. Much bad SQl writing can be avoided by using the correct datatypes to begin with.
ANd look up the following types of statements and get to know their most common options especially pay attention to how to use joins in them.
SELECT
DELETE
INSERT
UPDATE
If you learn these four statements backwards and forwards, you can do most of what you need to do in querying a database.
THere is plenty more to learn, but start with that. (And whatever you do, do not waste time learning to do a cursor. They are performance hogs and about 90% of the ones written are unnecessary IMHO.)
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
for some good reading material:
Useful Reference Books for SQL Server Professionals faq183-3324
I find O'Reilly books to be some fo the best - they cut to the chase.
Coming from an Access background there are some things you will need to learn that you may not have run across. First Access is both a database engine and a User interface. As such there are things it can do that don't translate well to SQL Server. For instance, You can put the form field in as a parameter in an Acess query, you cannot in SQL Server. You need to make it a variable and then use it as an input value for a stored procedure.
YOu should read about views and stored procedures in BOL. And really get to know the differences.
ALso in Access performance tuning is virtually impossible, but it is an important part of writing SQL for SQL Server. THe databases can be much larger so performance is critical. But don;t worry about this until you get somewhat of a handle on the basic syntax. Just be thinking about it as you go along.
ANother topic to look at right away is the subject of joins. Get to know them, how they work and why and how to properly use them in a statement. If you don;t use joins properly you end up with the wrong result set, something that may be hard to notice when you have 10 million records.
Check out the data types available. Much bad SQl writing can be avoided by using the correct datatypes to begin with.
ANd look up the following types of statements and get to know their most common options especially pay attention to how to use joins in them.
SELECT
DELETE
INSERT
UPDATE
If you learn these four statements backwards and forwards, you can do most of what you need to do in querying a database.
THere is plenty more to learn, but start with that. (And whatever you do, do not waste time learning to do a cursor. They are performance hogs and about 90% of the ones written are unnecessary IMHO.)
Questions about posting. See faq183-874
Click here to help with Hurricane Relief
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