Advice on learning SQL

[Redguard]

I want to learn SQL, so I'm asking those of you who know it the following...

1) How did you learn it? Self taught? Took a course?

2) What books/websites would you recommend

3) How difficult is it to learn?

 

[WhirlwindMonk]

1. Self taught
2. I used PHP/MySQL for Dummies. That was all right.
3. Pretty easy. It's all in english. An example of a command is: ALTER TABLE news ORDER BY timestamp DESC

So it is all pretty obvious, you just need to learn the syntax and the commands, both of which are pretty straightforward.

 

[simplicity]

Self taught. It's not difficult at all 'IF' you have a relational database installed on your PC for practice. I learned using Informix, which came with a book I bought. I actually got quite bored with SQL.

 

[WeakButHopeful]

I learned SQL at work so I was enrolled in a course. I use it every day on mainframe computers and at home I've written some apps with Java and mySQL. As has been said SQL is rather approachable and you can learn by experimentation. It is possible to shoot yourself in the foot at times (accidental cartesian cross products, insufficiently qualified deletes, efficiency considerations if you're doing high volume or time sensitive stuff). There are minor dialect differences among different types of SQL. And as was also mentioned SQL is a way to talk to a relational database, so you'll want to (eventually) learn a bit about Codd's laws, different stage optimizations, connection strings, dynamic vs. static SQL and statement preparation, access grants, etc. I'm not trying to overcomplicate things, just giving you a high level survey. Feel free to PM me if you have questions. As I mentioned I learned SQL in a course at my employer, but I notice there are tutorials out on the Web (though I haven't used them) such as:
http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp
http://sqlcourse.com/intro.html
http://sqlzoo.net/
You didn't mention a Web project but a lot of people use mySQL and PHP to do interactive Web pages that access databases. There are books devoted to this topic and I'm sure you could find many Web sites also. Google is our friend, and once you know the terminology Google Groups will help you too if you have trouble with a particular SQL statement (I mean searching past questions/answers...usually there's no need to even post a question...many have already been asked + answered many times, in my experience).

 

[Quantos]

A good book that I used

"PHP an MySQL Web Development"
by
Luke Welling & Laura Thomson

ISBN 0-672-32525-X

$49.99 U.S. / $77.99 CAN / 36.50 Net UK

Great for both ends of PHP & SQL

 

[Sycophant]

I learned by myself. Mostly with online references. And in conjunction with PHP.

I have since been a professional web applications developer with PHP and MySQL/PostgreSQL. The basics are quite easy. More complex stuff (conditional queries, proper relational table management, optimisation, sub-selects and so on) can be more difficult to get your head around.

Another difficulty with learning is getting a good data set to play with - I did see a site a while ago that had a whole bunch of example data for that very reason.. Sometimes you need a lot of data to really get a feel for it - nothing like performing complex queries on tables with over a million rows to let you know how inefficent your design is.

 

[agapehost]

I learned SQL from the ebooks only, I know good and cheap ebookstore, just type ebookstore on google you will find buch of good ebookstore.

 

[MusicalProgrammer]

The best way to learn as always is through experience: install MySQL on your machine, work through examples (MySQL's reference page and/or books), and come up with your own examples, projects, and designs. The Welling & Thompson book previously mentioned is an EXCELLENT resource. It's great to combine and learn with PHP, as well. I'd start with MySQL, and then move onto PostgreSQL (and possible to SQL server or Oracle from there if they can be had relatively cheaply). Are you doing this as a hobby, or a possible career path?