Practical SQL Handbook, The: Using SQL Variants, Fourth Edition

Focus, Simplification, and Customization

Views allow the promotion manager, the accountant, and the executive in the previous examples to focus in on the particular data and tasks. No extraneous or distracting information gets in the way.

Working with the data is simpler, too. When favorite joins, projections, and/or selections are already defined as views, it's relatively simple to add other clauses. Constructing the entire underlying query, on the other hand, could be a daunting prospect.

Views are a good way of customizing a database or tailoring it to suit a variety of users with dissimilar interests and skill levels. Our three users see the data in different ways, even when they're looking at the same three tables at the same time.