Book Image

The SQL Workshop

By : Frank Solomon, Prashanth Jayaram, Awni Al Saqqa
Book Image

The SQL Workshop

By: Frank Solomon, Prashanth Jayaram, Awni Al Saqqa

Overview of this book

Many software applications are backed by powerful relational database systems, meaning that the skills to be able to maintain a SQL database and reliably retrieve data are in high demand. With its simple syntax and effective data manipulation capabilities, SQL enables you to manage relational databases with ease. The SQL Workshop will help you progress from basic to advanced-level SQL queries in order to create and manage databases successfully. This Workshop begins with an introduction to basic CRUD commands and gives you an overview of the different data types in SQL. You'll use commands for narrowing down the search results within a database and learn about data retrieval from single and multiple tables in a single query. As you advance, you'll use aggregate functions to perform calculations on a set of values, and implement process automation using stored procedures, functions, and triggers. Finally, you'll secure your database against potential threats and use access control to keep your data safe. Throughout this Workshop, you'll use your skills on a realistic database for an online shop, preparing you for solving data problems in the real world. By the end of this book, you'll have built the knowledge, skills and confidence to creatively solve real-world data problems with SQL.
Table of Contents (13 chapters)

Introduction

In the previous two chapters, we looked at different aspects of a database. We provided an overview of the points to be considered while setting up a database. One of the key aspects we focused on was data integrity. We now know why data consistency is important. A step toward achieving better data integrity is database normalization. In this chapter, we will take a detailed look at achieving data consistency through normalization.

In the previous two chapters, we learned about the relational model of data. We saw that a database can contain any number of tables. These tables are connected to each other using a relation. This relation is usually established between the selected columns across tables using something called a foreign key.

Understanding that the relational model and data integrity are critical when working with data in business, we will take a look at the concept of normalization. Setting up the data model with constraints in mind and optimizing data...