Oracle/SQL book suggestions

[DarrenEff]

So I know there are quite a few programmers/scripters in here and I decided now was a good time to touch up on my MySQL and then dive straight in and learn oracle (lots of similarities, lots of differences). I've tried a few torrent sites and there is a huge selection but everyone I download seems to be like 600+ pages. The problem is about 550 pages is text explaining useless stuff and very little coding.

[RedSpikeyThing]

Yeah I know what you mean. I've got a 400 page database book from a course I took. The first 2 chapters were SQL and the other, oh, 15 or 20 chapters were the mechanics of how a database server works.

A good website is www.w3schools.com They've got all sorts of other stuff too

[VikingWarlord]

What are you looking for in a book? Are you looking for something that has exercises/projects in it or something that can serve as more of a reference manual?

Also, do you have any experience with other relational database systems?

[DarrenEff]

What are you looking for in a book? Are you looking for something that has exercises/projects in it or something that can serve as more of a reference manual?

Also, do you have any experience with other relational database systems?

Moreso exercises/projects. I find I actually learn and retain knowledge that way, where with reference manuals I tend to just find what I need and do it.
In terms of DBMS I have minimal exposure to DB2, but am rather well versed with Access (), MS SQL Server and MySQL.

[VikingWarlord]

Moreso exercises/projects. I find I actually learn and retain knowledge that way, where with reference manuals I tend to just find what I need and do it.
In terms of DBMS I have minimal exposure to DB2, but am rather well versed with Access (), MS SQL Server and MySQL.

Ok, well I can tell you right off the bat that most of the books I've ever seen like that are PHP/MySQL books. The books that are just MySQL tend to be big reference guides. If you're not planning to use PHP scripting for the front end, it might be harder to use those books.