McFadyen introduces the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) SQL language through the use of two databases in example format. The book also covers some of the differences between what has been defined as standard SQL and the ORACLE and dBASE IV languages.

The book is designed to be a supplement for students in a class on databases who need to learn an SQL language implementation in detail. It is also suitable for those interested in a tutorial introduction as they learn to use SQL within the production environment. The examples are good and illustrate the good features of the SQL language. The book has one shortcoming: it gives only one example of the deficiencies of the various SQL implementations and of the ways to circumvent these shortcomings.

This well-organized and well-written text is easy to read. It has good exercises, and answers appear in an appendix.