SQL and Its Applications

This volume shows how relational systems - and Structured Query Langauge (SQL) in particular - can help solve a wide variety of information management problems. It explains the SQL language itself, and then introduces the basics of data definition and the selection capabilities of SQL. Part one introduces the different constructs of the language accompanied by many short examples - all referring to the same application: the notion of join and subquery, data manipulation facilities, performance issues, views, data protection. Part two presents case studies on the practical applications of SQL involving: classical data processing, classical data processing, dealing with interesting types of data, problems including textual data and object-oriented data, definition of relationships between entities of the same type, the design of an interactive, menu-driven applications, illustrating the trade-offs between static and dynamic SQL. Each case study chapter refers to a different generic types of application and discusses some specific techniques. Because very often the same problem can be handled in different ways, the case analysis highlights the advantages or disadvantages of the alternatives and discusses the trade-offs.