HistoryIn this book, we've used the same descriptive terminology you'd find in the SQL Standard. You can check the meaning of unfamiliar terms in the glossary on the CD-ROM. To make it easier for you to follow our discussion, we use these notation conventions throughout:
- Words with special meaning in SQL are shown capitalized, e.g., Table.
- Words within angle brackets have specific definitions in SQL. See the appropriate syntax diagram for that definition.
- Direct SQL requires all SQL statements to be terminated with a semicolon. This book does not include the terminator in SQL syntax diagrams, but does include it in SQL statement examples.
Everything we describe is as mandated by the SQL
Standard explicitly, unless the discussion starts with the notation:
[OCELOT Implementation]. We use this notation to describe the
conventions followed by THE OCELOT DBMS; the DBMS you'll
find on the CD-ROM that comes with the book. Despite this,
everything described as an [OCELOT Implementation] is legitimate
SQL; it does not contradict the SQL mandate. Rather, it describes
OCELOT's SQL implementation for the many areas where the SQL
Standard specifies the matter is "implementation-defined" or
"implementation-dependent". These are areas to note: because there is
no Standard-specified definition; requirements and responses will
vary from one DBMS to another. Discussion of these areas starts
with the notation: [NON-PORTABLE].
You may initially skip over paragraphs which begin with the notation: [Obscure Rule]. They describe details which will probably be unclear on first reading and which are normally not utilized in typical installations.
Note:
Portions of the text in this entry are Copyright © 1999 by Ocelot Computer Services Incorporated. Used by permission.
