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Published in:
2013 | OriginalPaper | Chapter
4. SQL Is about Sets
Authors : Karen Morton, Kerry Osborne, Robyn Sands, Riyaj Shamsudeen, Jared Still
Published in: Pro Oracle SQL
Publisher: Apress
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Abstract
One of the most difficult transitions to make to become highly proficient at writing SQL well is to shift from thinking procedurally to thinking declaratively (or in sets). It is often hardest to learn to think in sets if you’ve spent time working with virtually any programming language. If this is the case for you, you are likely very comfortable with constructs such as
IF-THEN-ELSE, WHILE-DO, LOOP-END LOOP, and BEGIN-END. These constructs support working with logic and data in a very procedural, step-by-step, top-down–type approach. The SQL language is not intended to be implemented from a procedural point of view, but from a set-oriented one. The longer it takes you to shift to a set-oriented point of view, the longer it takes for you to become truly proficient at writing SQL that is functionally correct and also highly optimized to perform well.