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You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #382787] Sat, 24 January 2009 11:56 Go to next message
Michel Cadot
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I'd like to talk about two books I recently read about SQL and database applications I think there are the most useful ones for people that have to design or work with this kind of applications.
To quote what the author says with humour in his latest Youtube presentation about indexes:

Quote:
I wrote two books, one about how I think one should write SQL and more recently a second one, more relevant to what takes most of my professional time namely improving SQL applications written by people who have obviously not read my first book.
Stephane Faroult works on SQL and database since 1983 and his experience and skills in this domain are tremendous. He wrote the first Oracle France performance and tuning course in 1987. You can see and hear him on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/roughsealtd) and read some notes about him on Tom Kyte's blog:
http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2008/02/word-pathetic-never-sounded-so-good.html
http://tkyte.blogspot.com/2009/01/all-about-joins.html

The first book, The Art of SQL, takes the same plan than Sun Tzu's treatise, The Art of War, and explain how to prepare a SQL application design like a military campaign. His humour and style are great and you will find the substance is even greater. To quote Antoni Molinaro (author of SQL Cookbook):

Quote:
A truly 'smart' SQL book that tackles problems you will encounter as a database professional, focusing on what's real, not what's in a classroom.
I think this book should be provided with each SQL course.

The second book, Refactoring SQL Applications, explains what you can do when your database applications don't reach the expected performances. It explains step by step how to modify the application to increase performances starting with checking whether and where you can obtain some gains then going from quick fixes to deeper and deeper modifications, pointing that you can stop at any step if you reach reasonably performances.
If the first book explains how to design a SQL application, the second one greatly helps the professional in her every day application improvement task.
You can see a small application of this book in his Rewriting SQL queries for Performance in 9 minutes video



Now I can't think of any professional living without these two books. You think I am obliging toward Stephane Faroult and his books, I'm not. I'm always read critically the books I buy (and I bought some on SQL that I should say they are the way to not tackle SQL optimisation).
The only advice I could give is: buy them, read them and read them again, each time you will find new things and you will say to yourself as I do "Hey! this is my current problem".

The Art of SQL
  1. Laying Plans - Designing Databases for Performances
  2. Waging War - Accessing Databases Efficiently
  3. Tactical Dispositions - Indexing
  4. Maneuvering - Thinking SQL Statements
  5. Terrain - Understanding Physical Implementation
  6. The Nine Situations - Recognizing Classic SQL Patterns
  7. Variations in Tactics - Dealing with Hierarchical Data
  8. Weaknesses and Strengths - Recognizing and Handling Difficult Cases
  9. Multiple Fronts - Tackling Concurrency
  10. Assembly of Forces - Coping with Large Volume of Data
  11. Stratagems - Trying to Salvage Response Times
  12. Employment of Spies - Monitoring Performances
Refactoring SQL Applications
  1. Assessment
  2. Sanity Checks
  3. User Functions and Views
  4. Testing Framework
  5. Statement Refactoring
  6. Task Refactoring
  7. Refactoring Flows and Databases
  8. How it works refactoring in practice


He wrote a new book: SQL Success - Database Programming Proficiency, see below.
And he wrote once more: Getting the Message Across, see below.

[Updated on: Mon, 09 January 2017 11:39]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #454024 is a reply to message #382787] Mon, 03 May 2010 10:09 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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This is with a great pleasure I announce you that Stephane has released his site.
Not a blog, not a forum but a site to understand, learn and practice SQL and databases.

Here's the url: http://www.konagora.com

To have an idea of the spirit of the site, just have a look at his trailer on youtube:


http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=EUB113i_mzA

[Updated on: Mon, 09 January 2017 11:41]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #454113 is a reply to message #454024] Tue, 04 May 2010 02:30 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ramoradba
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Thanks for the URL`s Michel

sriram Smile
Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #455303 is a reply to message #454113] Tue, 11 May 2010 01:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
rahulvb
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This is Awesome Info , Worth to keep "bookmarked Topic " in your profile.

Thanks Michel.
Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #490232 is a reply to message #382787] Sat, 22 January 2011 03:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Stephane has started a new set of presentations on YouTube named Oracle DBA Lite.
They're worth to be seen by all those that are not professional DBA but want to manage their Oracle XE and learn the basics of Oracle DBA job.
Currently there are 7 presentations, the latest but one (Part 6) shows how to restore a rman backup to another server and how to manage a standby database with Oracle XE and without DataGuard.

Regards
Michel

[Edit: there are 7 presentations today]

[Updated on: Sat, 22 January 2011 03:19]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #515869 is a reply to message #490232] Wed, 13 July 2011 21:56 Go to previous messageGo to next message
abhisheksolankicse12
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its interesting.
Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #526128 is a reply to message #382787] Sat, 08 October 2011 10:42 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Stéphane has released a new series of video named SQL Mystery Stories (subtitled "Uncanny, Spooky Creepy Tales for database developers").
Currently there are 3 episodes:
- The mysteriously vanishing rows
- The evil duplicates
- Oracle's Mutating Tables

And a wonderful rant: Are you ready 2.0



[Updated on: Tue, 06 October 2020 10:23]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #563264 is a reply to message #526128] Fri, 10 August 2012 11:36 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Many Performances questions are posted in this forum; here are a couple of videos from Stephane:

Rewriting SQL queries for Performance in 9 minutes
Common issues with SQL dates in 9 minutes and a half

Oracle Performance Monitoring in less than 12 minutes 20 part 1/2
Oracle Performance Monitoring in less than 12 minutes 20 part 2/2
Database Performance Explained in less than 6 minutes

[Intermission]
SQL tutorial - What is SQL?
Databases and SQL - an introduction



What your DBMS can tell on your applications

[Updated on: Mon, 09 January 2017 11:42]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #589485 is a reply to message #563264] Sun, 07 July 2013 08:29 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Stéphane has just released his latest book: SQL Success - Database Programming Proficiency.

Regards
Michel

Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #593935 is a reply to message #589485] Thu, 22 August 2013 02:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Here's the fourth cover page of this new book:

SQL Success is about problem solving in SQL.
It bridges the gap between dry and dull database theory books, and developer books thta focus on giving recipes without explaining sufficiently the reasons behind the recipes or discussing alternative solutions.

Many developers struggle with SQL due to the contrast between the top-down logic of most programming languages and SQL's set-based approach. SQL Success aims to be different. This book is more than syntax examples. SQL Success explains how to use SQL to solve problems, and covers syntax in the process - not as the focus, but as a tool toward accomplishing the objective.

SQL Success also shows something that most other books do not: the pitfalls and traps of SQL, a deceptive simple language, and how easy it is to get a query wrong. Written in a conversational way, SQL Success talks about logic more than theory, avoids jargon, and refers to common-sense more than rules. It ignores featurss that are rarely used and tries to avoid information overload.

The intention of SQL Success is not to cover every aspect of all variants of SQL. The goal is to cover everything that is of practical use. That goal is informed by the author's many years of practical experience leading and understanding of what professional developers need to know, the common mistakes that are made, and how those mistakes can be avoided.
  • Focuses on the practical implications of theory.
  • Emphasizes accuracy and efficiency.
  • Teaches how to "think SQL", not merely the syntax.
  • Applies to Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, PostgeSQL, DB2 and SQLite.
  • Suitable for college-level database courses, SQL certification preparation, and professionals who want to take their database skills to the next level.
  • Bolstered by downloadable files and online database with practice exercises at http://edu.konagora.com.
  • Includes resources for instructors.

Comparing it to The Art of SQL and Refactoring SQL Applications, SQL Success is prequel of those books, giving readers a strong foundation in SQL.

Regards
Michel

[Updated on: Thu, 22 August 2013 02:38]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #595073 is a reply to message #593935] Fri, 06 September 2013 01:33 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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I suggest you to read Sandra Peele's review of the book on Amazon.

Regards
Michel

[Updated on: Fri, 06 September 2013 01:34]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #606309 is a reply to message #595073] Wed, 22 January 2014 03:44 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Another laugh from Stéphane: They could have used Databases in the 20s



Regards
Michel

[Updated on: Mon, 09 January 2017 11:33]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #622172 is a reply to message #606309] Fri, 22 August 2014 02:37 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Michel Cadot
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Stéphane has put new videos on YouTube.
They are Sandra Peele's ones Stéphane has worked on, you will recognize his style and the "movies" database he usually uses in his own presentations and books.
They are about differences in rdbms and the danger to think that if you can run a SQL application on one rdbms you can then run it on another one with no changes.

They are called "You're Not in Kansas Anymore" which is funny when you know Stéphane flew to Kansas last Sunday for one or two years.

You're Not in Kansas Anymore, part I
You're Not in Kansas Anymore, part II
You're Not in Kansas Anymore, part III
You're Not in Kansas Anymore, part IV

[Updated on: Fri, 22 August 2014 02:38]

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Re: You work with SQL application? Here are the books you need [message #659214 is a reply to message #622172] Mon, 09 January 2017 11:32 Go to previous message
Michel Cadot
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Stéphane has released a new book, even if it is not about Oracle I'd like to talk about it because it is valuable for DBA or application designer to explain (or rather show) what they do or want to do, I mean create presentations.
His book is titled Getting the Message Across (Using Slideware Effectively in Technical Presentations).



It contains 7 chapters and for each of them Stéphane created a presentation applying the principles he teaches:
  1. Designing a Presentation
  2. The Score
  3. Populating Slides
  4. Editing images
  5. Transitions
  6. Animations
  7. Putting the Magic Together
All these presentations are just Power Point ones!

Three annexes add practical information: "Introducing Yourself", "Licensing Issues" and "Documents".

See the customer reviews on Amazon.

[Updated on: Wed, 18 January 2017 01:54]

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