Joe Celko challenges you with his trickiest puzzles and then helps you conquer them with a variety of solutions and explanations. The puzzles are a compilation from Joe's columns in DBMS and Database Programming & Design magazines. They include new, never-before-published puzzles plus new solutions and extra background for previously published puzzles. In his usual entertaining and informative style, Joe demonstrates the thought processes that are involved in attacking a problem from an SQL perspective. Through the practical, enjoyable puzzles, he introduces immediately useful new techniques and applications for SQL programming, and shows the database programmer how to write and use non-procedural programs.

This little collection of puzzles is something to bash your head against while awaiting your SQL epiphany. Joe Celko

Joe Celko served 10 years on ANSI/ISO SQL Standards Committee and contributed to the SQL-89 and SQL-92 Standards. Mr. Celko is author a series of books on SQL and RDBMS for Elsevier/MKP. He is an independent consultant based in Austin, Texas. He has written over 1200 columns in the computer trade and academic press, mostly dealing with data and databases.