The amount of data that companies, organizations and parastatals is collecting is overwhelming. Every passing minute translates to data being added to the various database systems implemented to handle them. It is no wonder that Database Management, Data Analytics, Big Data and Business Intelligence are fields with high demand for skilled professionals to not only manage the data but to make business sense out of it.
Having said that, the foundation in the field of Data lies in having a good grasp of how databases work. SQL Server is a popular Database system by Microsoft and many organizations around the globe use it to take care of their data. To help Data professionals and the ones aspiring to sharpen their skill set, this article proffers some books that will walk with them in their ambitions. Look below for the resources that might change everything in your career.
1. SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide to Managing, Analyzing, and Manipulating Data With SQL
If you are an SQL beginner, a professional looking to augment your job skills in preparation for a data-driven future or a developer looking to expand your mastery beyond the full stack, then Walter Shields, the author of SQL QuickStart Guide, has exactly what will get you up to speed.
In this comprehensive guide, experienced mentor and SQL expert Walter Shields draws on his considerable knowledge to make the topic of relational database management accessible, easy to understand, and highly actionable.
SQL QuickStart Guide will make you discover:
- The basic structure of databases—what they are, how they work, and how to successfully navigate them
- How to use SQL to retrieve and understand data no matter the scale of a database (aided by numerous images and examples)
- The most important SQL queries, along with how and when to use them for best effect
- Professional applications of SQL and how to “sell” your new SQL skills to your employer, along with other career-enhancing considerations
Make your friends envious of your skills after reading this book from Amazon by clicking on the link that follows:
SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner’s Guide To SQL
2. SQL Server 2019 Revealed: Including Big Data Clusters and Machine Learning
Bob Ward, the author of this resource has done a wonderful job in dissecting and explaining SQL Server 2019 in an in-depth and simple manner. SQL Server 2019 is no longer just a database engine, it is cutting edge with support for machine learning (ML), big data analytics, Linux, containers, Kubernetes, Java, and data virtualization to Azure. It is simply powerful.
The book begins with a look at the project’s team goal to integrate the world of big data with SQL Server into a major product release. The book then dives into the details of key new capabilities in SQL Server 2019 using a “learn by example” approach for Intelligent Performance, security, mission-critical availability, and features for the modern developer. Also covered are enhancements to SQL Server 2019 for Linux and gain a comprehensive look at SQL Server using containers and Kubernetes clusters among many others.
What You Will Learn
- Implement Big Data Clusters with SQL Server, Spark, and HDFS
- Create a Data Hub with connections to Oracle, Azure, Hadoop, and other sources
- Combine SQL and Spark to build a machine learning platform for AI applications
- Boost your performance with no application changes using Intelligent Performance
- Increase security of your SQL Server through Secure Enclaves and Data Classification
- Maximize database uptime through online indexing and Accelerated Database Recovery
- Build new modern applications with Graph, ML Services, and T-SQL Extensibility with Java
- Improve your ability to deploy SQL Server on Linux
- Gain in-depth knowledge to run SQL Server with containers and Kubernetes
- Know all the new database engine features for performance, usability, and diagnostics
- Use the latest tools and methods to migrate your database to SQL Server 2019
- Apply your knowledge of SQL Server 2019 to Azure
You will never be same again once you have thoroughly internalized, digested, practiced and followed the guidance of this book. It makes all the difference. Get your copy from Amazon bu clicking on the link below:
SQL Server 2019 Revealed: Including Big Data Clusters and Machine Learning
3. Murach’s SQL Server 2019 for Developers
As a developer, having the extra knowledge of how databases work increases your efficiency, your communication across the IT teams and better performance because you will be able to design your applications holistically. Therefore, if you are an application developer, or you are training to be one, this latest edition of Murach’s classic SQL Server book is made for you.
To start, it presents the SQL statements that you need to retrieve and update the data in a database. These are the SQL statements that you’ll use every day. Then, it shows you how to design a database, how to implement that design, and how to work with database features like views, scripts, stored procedures, functions, triggers, transactions, security, XML data, and BLOB data with FILESTREAM storage.
The major aim of the book is to enable you create database applications that are thoroughly professional. You willl be familiar with the DBA-related issues that let you work far more effectively than most of your colleagues. And you will have a handy reference at your side to answer questions and handle new challenges as they come up.
Grab this resource and take your developer career above the rest by heading over to Amazon via the link provided below:
Murach’s SQL Server 2019 for Developers
4. Microsoft SQL Server 2016: A Beginner’s Guide, Sixth Edition
Get up and running on Microsoft SQL Server 2016 in no time with help from this thoroughly revised, practical resource. The book offers thorough coverage of SQL management and development and features full details on the newest business intelligence, reporting, and security features.
Filled with new real-world examples and hands-on exercises, Microsoft SQL Server 2016: A Beginner’s Guide, Sixth Edition, starts by explaining fundamental relational database system concepts. From there, you will learn how to write Transact-SQL statements, execute simple and complex database queries, handle system administration and security, and use the powerful analysis and BI tools. XML, spatial data, and full-text search are also covered in this step-by-step tutorial.
- Revised from the ground up to cover the latest version of SQL Server
- Ideal both as a self-study guide and a classroom textbook
- Written by a prominent professor and best-selling author
Below is the link to the book:
Microsoft SQL Server 2016: A Beginner’s Guide, Sixth Edition
5. SQL: Learn SQL (using MySQL) in One Day and Learn It Well
Have you been hearing about data, databases and SQL and wondering what it’s all about? Or perhaps you have just gotten a new job and need to learn SQL fast? This book precisely understands what you are going through and is on your side as a helper. You no longer have to feel lost and overwhelmed by all the fragmented tutorials online, nor do you have to waste your time and money learning SQL from lengthy books and expensive online courses.
This book provides examples for all concepts taught so that you can try out the different SQL commands yourself. In addition, you’ll be guided through a complete project at the end of the book that requires the application of all the concepts taught previously. Working through the project will not only give you an immense sense of achievement, it will also help you retain the knowledge and master the language for your future endeavors.
What you will learn
- Database and DBMS
- What SQL is
- Software you need to code SQL programs
- How to create databases and tables in SQL
- Common data types in SQL
- How to input data into the database
- How to select data from SQL tables
- How to use aggregate functions
- How to write JOIN and UNION statements
- SQL view
- How to write SQL triggers
- How to write stored procedures and functions
- How to make decisions with IF and CASE statements
- How to control the flow of program with WHILE, REPEAT and LOOP statements
- Cursors and how to use them and much more
To buy this book from Amazon, click on this link below and get your SQL skills for the world.
6. Practical SQL: A Beginner’s Guide to Storytelling with Data
Practical SQL by Anthony DeBarros is an approachable and fast-paced guide to SQL (Structured Query Language), the standard programming language for defining, organizing, and exploring data in relational databases. The book focuses on using SQL to find the story your data tells, with the popular open-source database PostgreSQL and the pgAdmin interface as its primary tools.
You’ll first cover the fundamentals of databases and the SQL language, then build skills by analyzing data from the U.S. Census and other federal and state government agencies. With exercises and real-world examples in each chapter, this book will teach even those who have never programmed before all the tools necessary to build powerful databases and access information quickly and efficiently.
What you will learn from Practical SQL
How to:
- Create databases and related tables using your own data
- Define the right data types for your information
- Aggregate, sort, and filter data to find patterns
- Use basic math and advanced statistical functions
- Identify errors in data and clean them up
- Import and export data using delimited text files
- Write queries for geographic information systems (GIS)
- Create advanced queries and automate tasks
Get practical with SQL which has been wonderfully covered in the book by having your copy today. Visit Amazon, check out the reviews and add it to your library by clicking on this link:
Practical SQL: A Beginner’s Guide to Storytelling with Data
7. SQL Practice Problems: 57 beginning, intermediate, and advanced challenges
Sylvia Moestl Vasilik has done beautiful work with excellence and hard work to make SQL learners the best at solving problems independently. She realized that it is fairly easy to find basic SQL syntax information online. What’s hard to find is challenging, well-designed, real-world problems— the type of problems that come up when you’re dealing with data.
With SQL Practice Problems, you can get that level of experience by solving sets of targeted problems. These aren’t just problems designed as syntax examples. These are the most common problems you encounter when you deal with data and learning how to solve them will give you the skill and confidence to step up in your career.
Summary of what do you get when you buy SQL Practice Problems
- Setup instructions for Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition and SQL Server Management Studio (Microsoft Windows required). Both are free downloads.
- A customized practice database, with a video walk-through on setting it up.
- Practice problems – 57 problems that you work through, step-by-step. There are targeted hints if you need them, which help guide you through the question.
- How to “think” in SQL, how to analyze data problems, figure out the fundamentals, and work towards a solution that you can be proud of.
- Answers and a short, targeted discussion section on each question, with alternative answers and tips on usage and good programming practice
After you have read the concepts of SQL, validating your knowledge and skills is pretty important and this resource got you covered. Take it home by clicking on the link below to purchase it from Amazon:
8. SQL Cookbook: Query Solutions and Techniques for Database Developers (Cookbooks (O’Reilly))
Let’s face it, SQL is a deceptively simple language to learn, and many database developers never go far beyond the simple statement: SELECT columns FROM table WHERE conditions. But there is so much more you can do with the language and if you would like to learn how to do more work with SQL inside the database before pushing data across the network to your applications, then do not attempt to let SQL Cookbook pass like that. Written in O’Reilly’s popular Problem/Solution/Discussion style, experienced SQL developer Anthony Molinaro shares his favorite SQL techniques and features to take your SQL skills to the next level. What is more, the book moves quickly from problem to solution, saving you time each step of the way.
You’ll learn about:
- Window functions, arguably the most significant enhancement to SQL in the past decade. If you’re not using these, you’re missing out
- Powerful, database-specific features such as SQL Server’s PIVOT and UNPIVOT operators, Oracle’s MODEL clause, and PostgreSQL’s very useful GENERATE_SERIES function
- Pivoting rows into columns, reverse-pivoting columns into rows, using pivoting to facilitate inter-row calculations, and double-pivoting a result set
- Bucketization, and why you should never use that term in Brooklyn.
- How to create histograms, summarize data into buckets, perform aggregations over a moving range of values, generate running-totals and subtotals, and other advanced, data warehousing techniques
- The technique of walking a string, which allows you to use SQL to parse through the characters, words, or delimited elements of a string
Sql Cookbook (Cookbooks (O’Reilly))
We are at the heart of the information and data era. Collection and analysis of such data is never going away anytime soon and hence presents opportunities to many who are interested around the globe. More and more exceptionally skilled professionals in matters data will be needed as Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Business Intelligence, Data Analytics and more fields to be discovered become adopted. It is never too late to kick start your career, sharpen your edges and aspire to be the best. Thank you for visiting and all the best in your venture and adventures. More on resources are listed below for your reference:
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