Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second Edition

Week 1 In Review

After setting the stage with a quick survey of database history and theory, Week 1 moved right into the heart of SQL with the SELECT statement. The following summary of the SELECT statement syntax includes cross-references to the days on which the particular aspect was covered:

SELECT [DISTINCT | ALL] (Day 2)--Columns (Day 1), Functions (Day 4)
FROM (Day 2)--Tables or Views (Day 1), Aggregate Functions (Day 4)
WHERE (Day 5)--Condition (Day 3), Join (Day 6), Subquery (Day 7)
GROUP BY (Day 5)--Columns (Day 3)
HAVING (Day 5)--Aggregate Function (Day 4)
UNION | INTERSECT (Day 3)--(Placed between two SELECT statements)
ORDER BY (Day 5)--Columns (Day 1)

If you build a million queries in your programming career, more than 80 percent of them will begin with SELECT. The other 20 percent will fall into the categories covered in Week 2.

Preview

The new skills you learn in Week 2 cover database administration. During Week 2 you will learn how to

Create and destroy tables
Assign permissions to your friends and prevent your enemies from even looking at your data
Update and delete data in tables