Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great book with hands-on examples!!
Comment: This book is practical and is packed with useful examples. It builds slowly and clearly states all the various outcomes for each SQL example. I like this book namely because it keeps the various DBMSs in mind while plowing through each concept. Each lesson/chapter is about 10mins long - thus the title, but its long enough so that going back to review is not a chore. Keep in mind it is a beginner's book, but as a start its a great foundation.I recommend that before you start with the first lesson you go straight to the Appendices and get the tables (structure and data) so that you can follow along with whatever tool you're working with (Access, SQL SERV 7, etc.). I've found this to be the best method of attack. Bravo Ben Forta! Thanks for the help!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Where's MySQL?
Comment: I would give this book only one star, but because it did do a good job of explaining the SQL language, I'm going to give it two. Not once in this book did they explain MySQL, which is the most popular database used today. Also, the book did cover ASP a little, but no PHP. How can you have a book about SQL and not cover the topics of PHP and MySQL, even if for a brief moment. However, they did cover Microsoft SQL Server, a commercial database server which most people will never have to interact with, and of all things, Microsoft Query. I didn't even know Microsoft still did this. They also covered Oracle, another important DBMS, but again people, Oracle is something only encountered in a commercial world. It is a great system, but most of us will not have to worry about it. And finally, the title totally throws the readers off. It is impossible to learn SQL in ten minutes. Besides the fact that most people can't read an entire book in ten minutes, it's impossible to comprehend all the material the book gives you in ten minutes. But anyway, if you're looking to get some information on how to use SQL with MySQL, or if you plan to use PHP to connect to your database, DON'T BUY THIS BOOK! It will not help you at all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great resource
Comment: Easy to understand for the beginner, and a powerful reference for the SQL pro.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Worth more than it's price
Comment: This little book serves as a great reference for novice to intermediate users. Also a good brief intro for beginners with the SQL syntax. The reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars, was that author put the info and data for the table setup in the appendix. If you are a new user, you probably won't know that you are supposed to create these tables and then alter them with the constraints. It would have been nice to download the text from a website instead of typing all the data to insert. Other than that, a great book.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Get up to speed quickly and have an excellent reference
Comment: I absolutely love this book. I'm fairly new to relational databases and SQL, and I can say quite honestly that this is one book that never leaves my computer's side. Any time I have to write a query that goes beyond simple SELECTs, I turn to Forta's book because it offers quick, concise, and useful information on getting the job done. I've had the book for about 4 months and so far, I've been able to get answers that I can apply usefully in just minutes. It's worth repeating that I'm fairly new to all this, so my demands aren't necessarily all that great. A word of caution to other database beginners: This is ***NOT*** a beginning book on databases. Forta offers about 5 pages on database rudiments, which won't be nearly enough unless you've been exposed to the material before. For instance, if you're not familiar with the term "normalization" or the ideas behind "one-to-many" or "many-to-many" relationships, you should bone up on your basics first. If you need to learn about database basics (especially if you're using MS Access), I'd recommend "Inside Relational Databases" by Whitehorn and Marklyn.
|
|
