Question thread #4

[pauamma]

It's time for another question thread!

The rules:

- You may ask any dev-related question you have in a comment. (It doesn't even need to be about Dreamwidth, although if it involves a language/library/framework/database Dreamwidth doesn't use, you will probably get answers pointing that out and suggesting a better place to ask.)
- You may also answer any question, using the guidelines given in To Answer, Or Not To Answer.

Comments

MySQL learnings

[wychwood]

If I want to learn some MySQL - specifically, I want to be able to query information from a pre-existing database, rather than doing anything active to a database - where is the best place to look? This is for work (though I'm hoping it might be transferrable to DW!), and they can't provide me any training but are happy to buy me a book or two. What are the best ones to buy? Is there a great free online training site I should know about? Etc.

Re: MySQL learnings

[pne]

For basic querying, you might be fine with just a generic book on SQL, which will stand you in good stead if you need to talk to other databases, too.

Re: MySQL learnings

[wychwood]

Do you have any good suggestions for a suitable generic book?

Re: MySQL learnings

[pne]

I'm afraid not, no. I learned SQL ages ago, mostly on the job and picking it up a bit at a time, rather from a book.

Re: MySQL learnings

[cesy]

It's been a while since I started from scratch, but a quick Google should cover the basic commands like SELECT and WHERE.