Best method

Hi,
I'm in software support. The company I work for has a team of
developers. I have been asked by my boss to learn "at least the
basics.." of SQL. This would be so that I can deal with any mundane or
perhaps easy to answer questions regarding sql error messages our
software produces.
I am a novice to sql, though I do have some programming techniques
having qualified in COBOL a 'few' years ago.
My question is this:-
Can anybody attest to the effectiveness of w3schools.com as a method for
such a novice to learn basic SQL, or can anybody recomend books such as
Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days.
Any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

TIA,
Barney.

Re: Best method

Barney wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm in software support. The company I work for has a team of
> developers. I have been asked by my boss to learn "at least the
> basics.." of SQL. This would be so that I can deal with any mundane or
> perhaps easy to answer questions regarding sql error messages our
> software produces.
> I am a novice to sql, though I do have some programming techniques
> having qualified in COBOL a 'few' years ago.
> My question is this:-
> Can anybody attest to the effectiveness of w3schools.com as a method for
> such a novice to learn basic SQL, or can anybody recomend books such as
> Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days.
> Any other suggestions would be gratefully received.

If I would be you, I would go for the book, have used it in study myself and
it's a good basic reference that you can use later on too. There is another
book that could be useful if you really need to learn fast, Teach Yourself SQL
in 24 hours.

Oracle has some good things on their homepage, that I do think can be useful
for you too, of course those are more aimed directly toward oracle usage.
MySQL has a great online manual with user comments in the same way as php.net has.


//Aho

Re: Best method

Post removed (X-No-Archive: yes)

Re: Best method

Barney wrote:
>
> I'm in software support. The company I work for has a team of
> developers. I have been asked by my boss to learn "at least the
> basics.." of SQL. This would be so that I can deal with any
> mundane or perhaps easy to answer questions regarding sql
> error messages our software produces.

A good place to start would be to find out what database engine your
products use.

> Can anybody attest to the effectiveness of w3schools.com as
> a method for such a novice to learn basic SQL, or can anybody
> recomend books such as Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days.

Find out what database engine your products use and take a look at that
engine's documentation. If it is too complicated, consider getting a
book about that particular database engine. Since you are in support
and need to deal with error messages, generic SQL knowledge is not
likely to be very important; you need to understand your particular
brand of SQL.

Cheers,
NC

Re: Best method

NC wrote:
> Barney wrote:
>
>>I'm in software support. The company I work for has a team of
>>developers. I have been asked by my boss to learn "at least the
>>basics.." of SQL. This would be so that I can deal with any
>>mundane or perhaps easy to answer questions regarding sql
>>error messages our software produces.
>
>
> A good place to start would be to find out what database engine your
> products use.
>
>
>>Can anybody attest to the effectiveness of w3schools.com as
>>a method for such a novice to learn basic SQL, or can anybody
>>recomend books such as Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days.
>
>
> Find out what database engine your products use and take a look at that
> engine's documentation. If it is too complicated, consider getting a
> book about that particular database engine. Since you are in support
> and need to deal with error messages, generic SQL knowledge is not
> likely to be very important; you need to understand your particular
> brand of SQL.
>
> Cheers,
> NC
>
To NC et al. Thanks for the help. Much appreciated.

Barney