Ben Forta's Blog - SQL

New SQL Book Now In Color

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 10:51:00 -0400

My little Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes is my best-selling title, it has sold over 1/4 million copies in English, has been translated into more than a dozen languages, has created spin-off titles focused on specific DBMSs, and has even become a textbook in numerous colleges and universities worldwide. And at just over 200 pages, it was surprisingly one of the most difficult books to write, too. As such, I've been very reluctant to tamper with this title, sometimes you just want to leave a good thing alone. It took significant prodding from my publisher, but I have indeed updated this book. For starters, we needed to update content to cover newer versions of popular databases like SQL Server, MySQL, and Oracle. I also wanted to add specific coverage for important new options, most notably SQLite. But, the most important enhancement, and this is what clinched the update for me, is that this new edition is printed in color (as proudly noted on the cover image). Colored titles and headers are pretty cool, but where you really see the value is in long SQL statements that are so much more readable when color-coded. I'm really excited about this update, and want to publicly thank the folks at Pearson for the push and support. More to follow!

Now Available: MariaDB Crash Course

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 08:06:00 -0400

MariaDB is a fork (offshoot) of MySQL, one of the most popular database management systems in the world. MariaDB was created by the creator of MySQL to address some of the limitations and shortcomings in MySQL, and is intended to be a drop in replacement for MySQL as well. At the request of Monty Widenius, creator of MySQL and MariaDB, I ported my best-selling MySQL Crash Course to focus specifically on MariaDB. The new book, MariaDB Crash Course, was just released and is now available for purchase. Note: As already noted, MariaDB is based on MySQL. Indeed, it can be thought of as MySQL plus new features and improvements. In other words, if you have used MySQL then you already know how to use MariaDB. As such, if you have a copy of my MySQL Crash Course or my Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes, then you'll likely NOT want a copy of this new title.

MariaDB Crash Course Available For Pre-Order

Wed, 27 Jul 2011 07:17:00 -0400

At the request of Monty Widenius, creator of MySQL and now MariaDB, I ported my MySQL Crash Course to create a new book entitled MariaDB Crash Course. The book won't be out for a couple of months, but it is now available for pre-order.

Manually Creating The MariaDB Windows Service

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 23:15:00 -0400

I've been doing quite a bit of work with MariaDB, a drop-in replacement for MySQL (forked from the MySQL codebase by Monty Widenius, the creator of MySQL). One issue I ran into is that the current Windows installer does not create the Windows service that you generally would want to use. And because I had to (yet again) dig around today for the solution, I am posting it here for the next time I need it. At a command prompt, go to the bin folder under the MariaDB installation folder, and then run: mysqld --install You should see a message telling you that the service (named MySQL by default) was created.

Sams Teach Yourself Book Tops Amazon.com Lists

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:30:00 -0400

A reader just pointed out to me that my my Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes is in Amazon.com's Top 10 lists in the databases, SQL, DBMSs, and databases categories. It's also #1 in the Relational Databases category! Cool! :-)

Sams Teach Yourself SQL OpenOffice Base Database

Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:02:00 -0400

At the request of a reader, I created an OpenOffice Base version of the example database used in my Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes. The file can be downloaded from the book page. To use this, you'll obviously need OpenOffice. And as it turns out, Base is actually a really nice database to experiment with, as it features a built-in screen that lets you simply enter and execute SQL. So, once you have OpenOffice installed, here's what you need to do:

Open the book database with OpenOffice Base
Select the Query tab on the left
Click the "Create Query in SQL View" task to display the Query Design screen
Type your SQL in the window
Click the Run Query button (it has an image of a green check mark on top of 2 documents) to execute your SQL, you can also just press F5 to run
Your results will be shown above your SQL code (unless you generate an error)

Thank you Roy (no last name provided) for the inspiration.

New SQL Books Translations Into Chinese And Korean

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 19:17:00 -0400

I just received three new translations of my books, two into Simplified Chinese and one into Korean:

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL In 10 Minutes is now available in Simplified Chinese
MySQL Crash Course is now available in Simplified Chinese
Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes is now available in Korean

Links to the new translated versions, as well as all other translations, are on the specific book pages. I am particularity excited about the Korean translation, as this is my first book in Korean, bringing the number of languages that my books have been translated into to 16. Here is a full list of all the translations (that I am aware of).

Adobe Developer Center On ColdFusion And SQL Injection Attacks

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 19:44:00 -0400

I've discussed SQL injection attacks several times on this blog. But, judging by how many sites fall victim to these attacks, it's one of those topics that we can never discuss enough. Which is why I want to point out a new Adobe Developer Center article by Adobe Enterprise Developer Support Consultant Ryan Wagener entitled Secure your ColdFusion application against SQL injection attacks.

SQL And Regular Expression Books Published In Chinese

Sun, 05 Oct 2008 08:01:00 -0400

My Sams Teach Yourself SQL In 10 Minutes and Sams Teach Yourself Regular Expressions In 10 Minutes have both been published in Chinese by Turing Book. Links are on the books pages. And here is a full list of all book translations.

MySQL Crash Course Now In Its Seventh Printing

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:35:00 -0400

It's been two and a half years since I published my MySQL Crash Course (a MySQL specific adaptation of my Sams Teach Yourself SQL in 10 Minutes), and during this time the book has proven to be incredibly popular, especially with MySQL beginners. And today I was informed that MySQL Crash Course is now in its seventh printing! Seven printings in two and a half years, I think that's my new personal record. (BTW, it's the same edition, so no need to buy another copy if you have one already).

George Poulose Releases 64bit Query Tools

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 14:17:00 -0400

George Poulose's Query Tools have long been a core part of my SQL tools and utilities collection. And George just let me know that he has released new Windows 64bit versions of his ODBC and ODO tools.

Adobe Joins SQLite Consortium

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:32:00 -0400

SQLite is a vital core component of newly released AIR, providing a local SQL data store for your desktop AIR applications. Dave McAllister has announced that Adobe has joined the SQLite Consortium, supporting the continued growth and improvements in SQLite.

Amazon.com ColdFusion 8 Book Page

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 07:12:00 -0400

Amazon.com has created a feature page highlighting the 3 new ColdFusion Web Application Construction Kit books (as well as SQL books that may be of interest to ColdFusion developers).

Microsoft To Start Selling My SQL Server Book

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 16:14:00 -0400

The Microsoft bookstore (on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA) has only sold Microsoft Press books to date. But, starting next week they will be selling select books published by other publishers. And apparently my Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes is one that they have selected to sell. So, any of you working for (or visiting) Microsoft, feel free to pick up a copy! :-)

MySQL Releases New Driver With Built In ColdFusion Specific Optimizations

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:19:00 -0400

MySQL has released a beta of a new version of their Java driver. As per this post, MySQL Connector/J 5.1.2 is a Type-IV pure-Java JDBC driver that is suitable for use with any MySQL version including MySQL-4.1, MySQL-5.0, MySQL-5.1 beta or the MySQL-6.0 Falcon alpha release. And this new driver contains code that automatically detects ColdFusion and then adjusts settings to optimize performance for ColdFusion use. Thank to Tom Jordahl for bringing this one to my attention.