A new addition to your bookshelf?
May 26th, 2009
I first started using Ingres 20 years ago next month and over the years have built a collection of well-thumbed Ingres books. It has been almost 15 years since a new title dedicated to Ingres has been added to my collection. It’s hard to live up to expectations that have gestated for so long, but a recently released bookabout Ingres authored by Rick van der Lans, a world renowned database expert, managed to not just meet those expectations but to far exceed them. You can preview and order the book on-line at:http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/the-sql-guide-to-ingres/6608333
Rick invited me to write the foreword to the book, and I was honored to be considered for this task. Below is a snippet taken from that foreword
“After two decades working as an Ingres user and as a member of the Ingres engineering team, I believe myself to be an expert on the technology inside and out, but in reviewing this book even this old dog learned a few new tricks. Rick’s broad and extensive knowledge of relational database technologies affords him the ability to provide a fresh perspective to topics that those of us who have been singularly focused on Ingres perhaps take for granted.
It is easy to write SQL, and even easier to write it poorly. This book provides the reader with an understanding of the SQL language and of the Ingres technology that will enable them to avoid common mistakes and to write efficient and well-performing SQL.
This book will serve as an educational tool to novice Ingres users as well as to those who have worked with many generations of the technology. The book contains numerous meaningful examples and hands-on exercises that clearly illustrate the preceding topics and aid the reader’s comprehension.
I was honored and delighted to be asked to provide the foreword for this book, and I hope that you will find the book to be as insightful and as educational as I did.”
May 27th, 2009 at 12:46 am
I have seen large chunks of the book already, and it is comprehensive. If Ingres has SQL for doing something, it is in this book; this book goes far beyond being an introduction to SQL. And like you, I thought I knew Ingres inside out, but found a few surprises in the book. There were times when I thought, “that’s wrong”, then I thought, “I’ll just test it”, and damn me–it would work!
Rick will be attending the UK IUA Conference in London on June 9, where he will be doing a presentation on “The Data Delivery Platform”, and also signing his book. If anyone wants to meet Rick (or Emma!) at the IUA, there is link to the registration site on the ingres.com home page or you can go to http://www.regonline.co.uk/IUA2009.