Assumptions This Book Makes

I assume in this book that you have already mastered the SQL language. By mastering I don't mean that you took SQL 101 at the university and got an A+, nor, at the other end of the spectrum, that you are an internationally acknowledged SQL guru. I mean that you have already developed database applications using the SQL language, that you have had to think about indexing, and that you don't consider a 5,000-row table to be a big table. It is not the purpose of this book to tell you what a "join" isnot even an outer onenor what indexes are meant to be used for. Although you don't need to feel totally comfortable with arcane SQL constructs, if, when given a set of tables and a question to answer, you are unable to come up with a functionally correct piece of code, there are probably a couple of books you had better read before this one. I also assume that you are at least familiar with one computer language and with the principles of computer programming. I assume that you have already been down in the trenches and that you have already heard users complain about slow and poorly performing systems.