The relational database is offered in so many implementations by so many vendors that this book cannot show all the examples and syntax from even the top implementations. This book uses Oracle in its exercises, but the examples stay as close to the SQL standard as possible so that they can easily be adapted to other database implementations. The following list highlights some of the most popular implementations available as of publication, along with websites where you can access their database software. Many software products are available for free download or are freely distributed for personal, development, and educational purposes.
Oracle Database XE |
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Oracle Live SQL |
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Microsoft SQL Server |
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MySQL |
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PostgreSQL |
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MariaDB |
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SQLite |
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Firebirdsql |
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InterBase |
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DB2 Express-C |
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CUBRID |
Note
RDBMS Recommendation for This Book
Oracle is the recommended database management system to use for this book—not because the author thinks Oracle is the right database for you or your organization, but because it facilitates a seamless transition for you when working through the examples and hands-on exercises. The examples and exercises in this book are simple and as compliant with the SQL standard as possible; any code used in this book should be portable to most relational database management systems, with minor adjustments to vendor-specific SQL syntax.
Hour 3, “Getting to Know Your Data,” covers the steps for downloading and installing Oracle, as well as the process of creating the tables and data that comprise the Bird database used throughout this book.
Hour 3 also walks through the instructions for installing Oracle for the Windows operating system and covers the process of creating the tables and data that make up the sample database. Oracle is the database used for both the examples and the hands-on exercises in this book. Oracle is available on other operating systems as well, including macOS and Linux. These instructions are accurate as of the date this book was written. Neither the author nor Sams Publishing places any warranties on the software or the software support. For any installation problems, or to inquire about software support, refer to the particular implementation’s documentation or contact customer support for the implementation.