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Murach's MySQL

 
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Author/s    : Joel Murach
Publisher   : Mike Murach & Associates
Category   : Data modeling, SQL and JDBC
Review by : Mohamed Sanaulla
Rating        : 10 horseshoes

If you ever wanted to learn to use MySQL, write SQL queries, create database elements then this is the book to pick up.

Some of the salient features of the book:
- The usual Murach's style of code mixed with concepts. Its really useful because you are not only reading but also trying out the code. Its Learning by Doing.
- It starts with the importance of the formatting and structure of the SQL queries and follows them right through out the book. By the end of it you would be naturally using the convention.
- Clear division of the book into sections and the right ordering of these sections, this helps to plan the reading of the book accordingly.
- Good coverage of procedural programming, Normalisation concepts as well as basic db Administration concepts.
- The importance of the use of tools (MySQL WOrkbench) is also explained, but you dont find it overstressed anywhere in the book. They have introduced the tools as and when necessary.
- Exercise questions at the end of each chapter to test your understanding.

I know lot of you would say that with the ORM frameworks and frameworks which provide DSLs to create database structures (like migrations in Rails) such a book exclusively on a particular database might be redundant. But to really understand how these frameworks work, one has to be aware of SQL language and also be familiar with using the db. I think these frameworks may not be of much help in cases where we would have to write complex queries or a stored procedure to perform complex calculations.

The intended audience:
-Any one new to SQL/new to MySQL.
-For someone familiar to SQL but not MySQL might find initial few chapters easy to read.
-Any one who wants to do some advanced procedural programming in MySQL.

I couldn't find anything which I didnt like. Though I might be tempted to say the size of the book, but considering the content it is packed with, the code examples, the exercises, the size shouldn't be of much concern.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

More info at Amazon.com
 
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Review by : Rob Spoor
Rating        : 9 horseshoes

The book follows the Murach style - on the left pages there is text, on the right pages there are screen shots, code snippets, and short summaries of the text on the left. For experienced database developers it's tempting to skip the entire left pages and focus on the right pages only.

I really like this book. It starts with the obligatory introduction which doesn't really add anything, but after that the good stuff follows. The book shows most of the queries you need - not just the four basic ones, but also stored procedures, functions, triggers, events and transactions. I believe that after reading the book you can do most of the things you will need in your everyday job. And if you don't like the command line, no problems; the book also shows you how to use the MySQL workbench.

If that's not enough, there is also an entire section about database administration. With this book you won't just learn how to be a database developer, you also learn how to manage security and backup and restore MySQL databases. What more do you need?

Summarizing, this is one of the best books on MySQL I've read. It's less useful if you want to work with other database systems since a lot of it is specific for MySQL, but then you wouldn't have bought this book, would you?

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Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for writing this review on behalf of CodeRanch.

More info at Amazon.com
 
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