10 Best SQL Books for Beginners & Advanced Programmers
By: Coding Ninjas
Tags: Web Development, Sql Server, MySQL, Sql Book, Sql

Some of the best books in the market that can help you have a firm grip on writing SQL queries and detailed knowledge of SQL books are listed in this article.

You will be surprised to know that we produce over 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every single day. The question here is where is this all data stored? We are aware of the databases.

Databases are responsible for storing the data. This data should be accessible, mutable and secure. The database requires special programming language to interact with the user. It enables the user to make changes, view and delete data.

We have a special programming language known as to enable us to perform various operations. You can do meaningful queries on the database to extract the desired data out of a large amount of data. You can store or update particular data points according to the requirement. SQL acts as the medium between SQL (structured query language) databases and used for interaction.

Why should I learn SQL?

SQL is one of the most in-demand skills in the current scenario. According to StackOverflow, it is the third most popular programming language. It has application in almost all fields from banking, business to the software. You can be looking for various job profiles such as business analyst, data scientist, software engineer, database administrator, quality assurance tester, or data engineer, you ought to know SQL. All major companies such as Uber, Airbnb, Pinterest, Netflix, Amazon, Twitter, Google and Udemy, use SQL.

It is often overwhelming for beginners to get started with SQL via these SQL books. Learning SQL doesn’t need prior programming experience in general. It is need-specific and a completely different programming language from the commonly known high-level programming languages such as Python and Java. You can choose your methodology of learning SQL either from tutorials or SQL books or a combination of both.

Some of the best books in the market that can help you have a firm grip on writing SQL queries and detailed knowledge of SQL books are as follows:

Beginner

Author: Thomas Nield

MRP: Rs. 1900 (Kindle edition)

This is the book you should refer if you just getting started with SQL. Another great book by O’Reilly. You would be learning about relational databases in centralised models. You will be using SQLite and SQLite Studio for creating databases. You will be learning about various commands to query and transform data such as SELECT, WHERE GROUP BY and ORDER BY. On completion of this book, you would be able to create your own centralised databases and tables using normalised design principle. You will also learn to manage data using INSERT, DELETE and UPDATE commands.

PROS:

Clear explanation

Fast-paced and enjoyable

Sufficient examples and exercises

Great for beginners

2. Head First SQL: Your Brain on SQL — A Learner’s Guide

Author: Lynn Beighley

MRP: Rs.850

This is an interesting book to take your SQL skills on a different level. It will help you to elevate your fundamentals by teaching application. It is a step ahead from the basic INSERT and SELECT queries to hardcore database manipulations with indices joins and transactions. This book incorporates the latest research in microbiology to make learning theory easy using multisensory learning techniques. This is not any text-heavy book rather a complete experience.

PROS:

For beginners to intermediate

Visuals along with text

Examples and exercises

Practical implementation focused

To check out the complete list of SQL books, read the blog.