Learning SQL with PostgreSQL: Understanding Databases: Queries, Data Model, Performance, and Operations

SQL is one of the most valuable skills in the digital world – and PostgreSQL is the ideal database to learn it on: powerful, free, and in use everywhere. This book teaches you both from the ground up, with the clear aim of enabling you to use SQL and to understand it.

The path leads from the first SELECT through filtering, grouping, and joining tables to clean data modeling, to transactions and advanced SQL (views, CTEs, window functions), all the way to PostgreSQL's special features such as JSONB, full-text search, and PL/pgSQL. A dedicated part of the book goes under the hood: How does PostgreSQL store data? Why do indexes make queries fast? And how do you read a query plan with EXPLAIN to see what really happens? The book closes with administration (roles, security, backup, replication, monitoring) and everyday practice (migrations, application connectivity, anti-patterns).

Every chapter works with a running example database and follows the same pattern: a concrete need, the SQL solution, the explanation of the why, and a clear example. Detailed, fully worked case studies take real tasks from the requirement to the finished solution.

For beginners without prior knowledge as much as for developers, data analysts, and students who want to build solid, practical database knowledge.