Using SQLite

Wrap-up

This is a long chapter packed with a huge amount of information. Even if you’re familiar with a number of traditional programming languages, the declarative nature of SQL often takes time to wrap your head around. One of the best ways to learn SQL is to simply experiment. SQLite makes it easy to open up a test database, create some tables, and try things out. If you’re having problems understanding the details of a command, be sure to look it up in Appendix C. In addition to more detailed descriptions, Appendix C contains detailed syntax diagrams .

If you wish to make a deeper study into SQL, there are literally hundreds of books to choose from. O’Reilly alone publishes a dozen or so titles just on the SQL language. While there are some differences between the SQL supported by SQLite and other major database systems, SQLite follows the standard fairly closely. Most of the time, SQLite deviates from the standard, it does so in an attempt to support common notations or usage in other popular database products. If you’re working on wrapping you’re head around some of the higher level concepts, or basic query structures, a tutorial or book written for just about any database product is likely to help. There might be a small bit of tweaking to get the queries to run under SQLite, but the changes are usually minimal.

Popular O’Reilly books covering the SQL language include Learning SQL (Beaulieu), SQL in a Nutshell (Kline, Kline, Hunt), and the SQL Cookbook (Molinaro). More advanced discussions can be found in The Art of SQL (Faroult, Robson). Popular reference books also include SQL For Smarties (Celko, Morgan Kaufmann) and Introduction to SQL (van der Lans, Addison Wesley). These two are large, but very complete. There is also The SQL Guide to SQLite (van der Lans, lulu.com), which takes a much deeper look at the SQL dialect specifically used by SQLite.

There are also thousands of websites and online tutorials, communities, and forums, including the SQLite mailing lists, where you can often get insightful answers to intelligent questions.

Before trying too much, be sure to read the next chapter. The next chapter is devoted to the SELECT command. In addition to covering the syntax of the command, it dives a bit deeper into what is going on behind the scenes. That foundation knowledge should make it much easier to break down and understand complex queries. It should also make it much easier to write them.