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Joe Celko's Thinking in Sets: Auxiliary, Temporal, and Virtual Tables in SQL
Perfectly intelligent programmers often struggle when forced to work with SQL. Why? Joe Celko believes the problem lies with their procedural programming mindset, which keeps them from taking full advantage of the power of declarative languages. The result is overly complex and inefficient code, not to mention lost productivity.
This book will change the way you think about the problems you solve with SQL programs.. Focusing on three key table-based techniques, Celko reveals their power through detailed examples and clear explanations. As you master these techniques, you’ll find you are able to conceptualize problems as rooted in sets and solvable through declarative programming. Before long, you’ll be coding more quickly, writing more efficient code, and applying the full power of SQL
• Filled with the insights of one of the world’s leading SQL authorities - noted for his knowledge and his ability to teach what he knows.
• Focuses on auxiliary tables (for computing functions and other values by joins), temporal tables (for temporal queries, historical data, and audit information), and virtual tables (for improved performance).
• Presents clear guidance for selecting and correctly applying the right table technique.
This book will change the way you think about the problems you solve with SQL programs.. Focusing on three key table-based techniques, Celko reveals their power through detailed examples and clear explanations. As you master these techniques, you’ll find you are able to conceptualize problems as rooted in sets and solvable through declarative programming. Before long, you’ll be coding more quickly, writing more efficient code, and applying the full power of SQL
• Filled with the insights of one of the world’s leading SQL authorities - noted for his knowledge and his ability to teach what he knows.
• Focuses on auxiliary tables (for computing functions and other values by joins), temporal tables (for temporal queries, historical data, and audit information), and virtual tables (for improved performance).
• Presents clear guidance for selecting and correctly applying the right table technique.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 18, 2008
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70 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 31, 2016
This book deserves a little more credit than Celko's SQL Style book.
The continuing bad:
-Layout is poor- excessive gutters force lots of line breaks that really hamper readability of code examples
-Explanation is often inadequate to explain
-The title suggests exploration of a few set-related ideas. The first half of the book reads like a list of syllabus topics that need to be briefly mentioned, and only towards the end does it begin to feel like a dive into interesting concepts
-Multiple good/bad examples are often not adequately labeled to indicate good/bad/betterness
-I like Celko's pro-set-based stance, but in some cases his attempts to avoid procedural code lead to ridiculous seeming SQL with hard-coded repetition. He repeatedly says that the code can be generated semi-automatically, but I can't believe that these are reasonable best practices for general cases.
The better-than-the-last-Celko-book:
-Everything gets *some* explanation (yeah, this is better than the last book)
-The book often works through mutliple approaches with some discussion of pros and cons, though the explanation & justification is still often lacking
-I feel like I came away with some new information, and some ideas to remember to come back to when I have specific problems in the future
I will probably get around to Celko's SQL For Smarties in the future.
The continuing bad:
-Layout is poor- excessive gutters force lots of line breaks that really hamper readability of code examples
-Explanation is often inadequate to explain
-The title suggests exploration of a few set-related ideas. The first half of the book reads like a list of syllabus topics that need to be briefly mentioned, and only towards the end does it begin to feel like a dive into interesting concepts
-Multiple good/bad examples are often not adequately labeled to indicate good/bad/betterness
-I like Celko's pro-set-based stance, but in some cases his attempts to avoid procedural code lead to ridiculous seeming SQL with hard-coded repetition. He repeatedly says that the code can be generated semi-automatically, but I can't believe that these are reasonable best practices for general cases.
The better-than-the-last-Celko-book:
-Everything gets *some* explanation (yeah, this is better than the last book)
-The book often works through mutliple approaches with some discussion of pros and cons, though the explanation & justification is still often lacking
-I feel like I came away with some new information, and some ideas to remember to come back to when I have specific problems in the future
I will probably get around to Celko's SQL For Smarties in the future.
Displaying 1 of 1 review