Mastering Oracle SQL

Few books on the market today go beyond discussing syntax and the barest rudiments of using Oracle SQL. This book changes that, showing you how to creatively leverage the full power of SQL to write queries in an Oracle environment. This book shows you how to: Leverage Oracle's vast library of built-in SQL functions Query time-based data, and write joins involving date and time ranges Use Oracle SQL's hierarchical query features to deal with data best represented in a tree format Use DECODE and CASE to implement conditional logic in your queries Use Oracle's new, analytic SQL features to write ranking queries, lag and lead queries, windowing queries, and more Join data from two or more tables using the newly supported SQL92 join syntax In addition, the authors cover the full range of Oracle SQL features that apply to query writing. You'll learn many creative techniques for writing effective, good performing, and accurate queries. Annotation If you write programs to run against an Oracle database, you spend a lot of time and mental energy writing queries to return the data your programs need. Knowledge of SQL, and particularly of Oracle's implementation of SQL, is the key to writing good queries in a timely manner. In this book, the authors share their knowledge of Oracle SQL, and show you many creative techniques that you can use to advantage in your own applications. This book shows you how to: Leverage Oracle's vast library of built-in SQL functions Query time-based data, and write joins involving date and time ranges Use Oracle SQL's hierarchical query features to deal with data best represented in a tree format Use DECODE and CASE to implement conditional logic in your queries Use Oracle's new, analytic SQL features to write ranking queries, lag and lead queries, windowing queries, and more Join data from two or more tables using the newly supported SQL92 join syntax In addition, you'll see how SQL can best be integrated with PL/SQL. You'll also learn various best practices to help you write SQL queries that perform efficiently. Precious few books on the market today go beyond discussing syntax and the barest rudiments of using Oracle SQL. This book changes that, showing you how to creatively leverage the full power of SQL to write queries in an Oracle environment Cover......Page 1 About the Authors......Page 3 Dedication......Page 4 Table of Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 9 1. Introduction to SQL......Page 16 2. The WHERE Clause......Page 29 3. Joins......Page 41 4. Group Operations......Page 70 5. Subqueries......Page 83 6. Handling Temporal Data......Page 110 7. Set Operations......Page 159 8. Hierarchical Queries......Page 172 9. DECODE and CASE......Page 190 10. Partitions, Objects, and Collections......Page 207 11. PL/SQL......Page 228 12. Advanced Group Operations......Page 243 13. Advanced Analytic SQL......Page 282 14. SQL Best Practices......Page 312 Index......Page 323 Sanjay Mishra And Alan Beaulieu. Covers Oracle 9i--cover. Electronic Book. Electronic Reproduction. Boston, Ma : Safari Technical Books Online, 2003. Available Via World Wide Web. Includes Index. Putting Oracle Sql To Work--cover.