SQL Basics Tutorial (2nd Edition)

SQL Basics Tutorial (2nd Edition) is an introductory SQL book for beginners by MICK, a veteran Japanese database engineer. The Chinese edition was translated by Sun Miao and Luo Yong and published by Posts & Telecom Press as part of its Turing Programming Series. The book uses PostgreSQL as its main practice environment while explicitly noting syntax differences among major relational databases such as Oracle, MySQL, SQL Server, and DB2, helping readers build the overall understanding that "learning standard SQL lets you operate any RDBMS." The book has nine chapters plus an introductory chapter on setting up the learning environment: from installing PostgreSQL and configuring connections to executing SQL statements in the command line and graphical tools, it walks readers step by step through getting a working environment ready. The main text progresses from shallow to deep. Chapter 1 introduces basic concepts such as databases, tables, and DBMS, and the classification of SQL. Chapter 2 covers the SELECT statement, arithmetic and comparison operators, and logical operators. Chapter 3 covers aggregate functions, GROUP BY grouping, and ORDER BY sorting. Chapter 4 covers INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, and transactions. Chapter 5 moves into views, subqueries, and correlated subqueries. Chapter 6 systematically covers various functions, predicates, and CASE expressions. Chapter 7 covers set operations such as UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT, along with inner and outer joins. Chapter 8 covers window functions and advanced aggregation such as ROLLUP, CUBE, and GROUPING SETS. Chapter 9, new in the second edition, explains how applications connect to databases through drivers, demonstrating data retrieval and updates with Java connecting to PostgreSQL. A defining feature is the extensive use of diagrams to "draw out" execution order and the process of joining tables; key points are distilled into "rules" for easy reference, and each chapter ends with exercises with answers at the back, forming a complete teach-practice-check loop.