At 06:57 PM 10/29/99 -0400, Bill Meahan wrote:
>On Thu, 28 Oct 1999, John Henderson wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I am in need of a great SQL reference that is readable by a beginner but is
>> also comprehensive, any recommendations? Do you think O'Reilly is best? I
>> have seen others recommended?
>>
>
>Though you'll never go wrong with an O'Reilly book, IMNSHO, my personal
>recommendations would be:
>
>"Instant SQL Programming" by Joe Celko followed by
>"SQL for Smarties: Advanced SQL Programming" also by Joe Celko
Hey; he was asking about a "beginner's guide" afterall... But as long as
we are on more advanced topics, I would mention Kimball's work as well.
I personally disagree with your assertion about never going wrong with
O'Reilly. While for many topics O'Reilly is my publisher of choice, I'm
finding that newer titles increasingly disappoint. I don't want to mention
specifics out of respect for the authors, as it's the editors who are
leveraging them to water down the content for greater mass appeal.
Evidently the bean counters have figured out that there is more money to be
made by targeting the beginning to intermediate audience than the
traditional O'Reilly target of the intermediate to advanced user. It
apppears to me as if WROX is poised to fill this niche now, although I am
not particularly enamored with their layout.
So there's my $0.02. Back to the lurk mode now...
Ciao--Ken
http://www.y2know.org/safari/
FreeBSD- Viagra for your server ;^)