Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
selectstarsql.com
Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
1–10 of 121 posts
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#2I find the writing style interesting, but I'm not like others at my work who could benefit from learning SQL (business managers at a bank back office who rely mostly on Excel, then get stuck when Excel crashes with large datasets).
Are these funky, quirky books generally well-received outside the programming community? I quite liked Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby, for example, but I would never recommend it to anyone at work.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#3Nice job, this is a great way to teach something like SQL. Any plans to add more chapters? Would love to see something around window functions AND CTEs as this format would go a long way in showing when and how to use them.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#4I really like your explanations. I have never been able to wrap my head around joins.
You say that: "Programming is best learned by doing", but I am struggling to do anything...
It would be great if there was some online area like SQL Fiddle with the data loaded, so I can run queries and see results in my browser without having to set anything up or am I missing something.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#5I find the writing style interesting, but I'm not like others at my work who could benefit from learning SQL (business managers at a bank back office who rely mostly on Excel, then get stuck when Excel crashes with large datasets). Are these funky, quirky books generally well-received outside the programming community? I quite liked Why's Poignant Guide to Ruby, for example, but I would never recommend it to anyone a…
As a hobbyist programmer I absolutely love this style of instruction.
I don't know that I'd use "funky" or "quirky" to describe it though. Instead it comes across as clear, concise and approachable.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#6The dataset is sobering. Good on you for using this.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#7This is gorgeous, and a great topic. No matter what field you're working in, understanding databases is extraordinarily valuable...and SQL is among the longest lasting techs I've ever learned (e.g. name another programming language that is as valuable today as it was 20 years ago, if not moreso). Even with the rise of NoSQL databases, I suspect we'll all still need to know a little SQL in another 20 years (and it was already more than 20 years old when I first encountered it in the 90s). And, even if not the same language, conceptually understanding how to query data is probably timeless.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#8This might sound like an odd statement, but I can tell from reading part of it, that it was written by a beautiful person.
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
#9I have picked up SQL and statements from my time in industry. I really like how this book provides not only interaction but a dataset that actually means something. Also, interactive systems like this for teaching are amazing! I learned about how "_" is a wildcard for one character (I have been making do with % for LIKE statements).
Re: Show HN: Select Star SQL, an interactive SQL book
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