Database

Any resources below that I have done a more thorough review, I will link to the posts.

The Art of PostgreSQL

This book as of June 2023 I have not completed. Also I am currently reading the 2nd edition and Dimitri is working on a 3rd edition that will be based on the PostgreSQL 15. This book is written for someone who may know other programming languages but not SQL and specifically no PostgreSQL. He goes through in great detail how to utilize the features that PostgreSQL has to offer and show how efficient SQL code can be compared to other languages like Python or Java.

Beginning Database Design

Clare’s book was using for me to understand how to design my database. While she doesn’t focus on which database to use, it is very helpful on how to design a database based on the requirements and not as an afterthought.

Memorable SQL

Jeff’s book does a good job providing a good intro to SQL. He uses PostgreSQL which prior to reading his book, I thought it was too much effort to use a proper database. While SQLite has it uses, using PostgreSQL enabled me to have my data at work on the server and I can access it from multiple PCs.

Jeff provides enough detail to do meaningful queries and shows how to create and structure a database.

Practical SQL

Anthony does an excellent job in looking at how to see data as a means to building a story with it. While Anthony does look at data as a journalist, it is very helpful to use some of the techniques that he explains. For example, since he typically is getting public dataset, the data tends to be dirty. “Interviewing the data” can be a useful while of thinking about the data and asking questions to better understand what you have and what you may need to do before you can start to answer your questions.

SQL for Data Scientists

While Jeff goes through and does an introduction to SQL using PostgreSQL, Renee uses SQL to solve business problems that a Data Scientist could see. While she uses MySQL, she explains the differences between the popular relational databases. While going through the syntax was helpful (as well as learning WITH Statements and Views), Renee did an excellent job turning a business question into a technical implementation. While my title does not say Data Scientist/Analyst, working at Dynamic I do a lot of data analysis and her book went a long way in helping me do my job.

SQL Window Functions Explained

Anton does an excellent job going over window functions in SQL. I knew very little about window functions and after reading a little bit of his book, I was able to start applying what I learn to queries I used at work. I used PostgreSQL but he wrote it to support multiple DBMSs. You can read my review.