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SQL, or Structured Query Language, is the standard database manipulation language for many companies. Every data employee is currently expected to understand the SQL language, as our job would involve extracting this stored data for further analysis. That is why we must improve our knowledge of SQL regardless of our professional level.
This article will discuss five free books that would improve your level of SQL. We will cover your needs from beginner level to advanced use.
What are these books? Let’s get into it.
SQL Notes for Professionals by GoalKicker.com is a 150+ page free SQL book that covers most of the core usage of SQL. In each chapter, you will learn a brief explanation of the syntax, example usage, and tips when using the syntax.
The book can become your choice to learn and update basic knowledge, as it is suitable for any professional level. The book mainly covers the following concepts:
- SQL Fundamentals
- Data manipulation
- Database and table management
- Functions and expressions
- Data Cleaning and Maintenance
- Work with special data types
You can get the book on the following page: SQL notes for professionals.
This is another free book to improve your SQL skills that is suitable for beginners and advanced users. This book was developed from contributions from Stack Overflows and is designed to answer most of your SQL questions.
The book consists of 64 chapters with more than 200 pages. Each chapter will contain simple explanations and usage examples that are easy to follow. In general, the content of the book was the following:
- SQL Fundamentals
- Database design
- Advanced query techniques
- Error management and handling
- Understanding SQL metadata
- SQL information retrieval
You can get the book on the following page: SQL learning.
The introductory book of Bobby Iliev is an open source book that aims to teach beginners about using SQL. Provides a clear explanation for each chapter with tutorials and prerequisites you need to follow along. The book uses MySQL throughout the book, so it is also good if you want to learn more about this language.
The content of the book consists of:
- MySQL Basics
- Data manipulation
- Advanced queries with JOINS and subqueries
- Work with specific MySQL functions
- Best practices and writing clean code
You can get the book on the following page: Introduction to SQL.
Essential SQL is part of the Essential programming books, a continuation of the Stack Overflow documentation that stopped in 2017. The eBook contains simple explanations for each topic and provides a sample playground that you can modify. It is an excellent ebook for both beginners and advanced users.
The eBook contains the following:
- SQL Fundamentals
- Data recovery and manipulation
- Optimization and advanced queries
- Database design and management
- Best practices and maintenance
You can visit the e-book here: Essential SQL.
SQL Indexing and Tuning is an eBook developed by Markus Winand which focuses on the SQL Indexing activity. This eBook is more suitable for advanced users, but would help our work in the long run.
The content of the e-book consists of:
- Indexing Basics
- Index structures
- Index performance issues
- Best practices for index management
- Advanced Indexing Considerations and Techniques
SQL is an important skill to have as a data professional, as it would become part of our daily work. To improve your knowledge of SQL, there are some free SQL books that we can use, which we have discussed in this article. These books improve your SQL fundamentals and provide real-world examples.
Cornellius Yudha Wijaya He is an assistant data science manager and data writer. While working full-time at Allianz Indonesia, she loves sharing Python tips and data through social media and print media.
