Graeme Birchall ©
4
Author Notes
Book History
This book originally began a series of notes for my own use. After a while, friends began to
ask for copies, and enemies started to steal it, so I decided to tidy everything up and give it
away. Over the years, new chapters have been added as DB2 has evolved, and as I have found
new ways to solve problems. Hopefully, this process will continue for the foreseeable future.
Why Free
This book is free because I want people to use it. The more people that use it, and the more
that it helps them, the more inclined I am to keep it up to date. For these reasons, if you find
this book to be useful, please share it with others.
This book is free, rather than formally published, because I want to deliver the best product
that I can. If I had a publisher, I would have the services of an editor and a graphic designer,
but I would not be able to get to market so quickly, and when a product changes as quickly as
DB2 does, timeliness is important. Also, giving it away means that I am under no pressure to
make the book marketable. I simply include whatever I think might be useful.
Other Free Documents
The following documents are also available for free from my web site:
• SAMPLE SQL: The complete text of the SQL statements in this Cookbook are available
in an HTML file. Only the first and last few lines of the file have HTML tags, the rest is
raw text, so it can easily be cut and paste into other files.
• CLASS OVERHEADS: Selected SQL examples from this book have been rewritten as
class overheads. This enables one to use this material to teach DB2 SQL to others. Use
this cookbook as the student notes.
• OLDER EDITIONS: This book is rewritten, and usually much improved, with each new
version of DB2. Some of the older editions are available from my website. The others can
be emailed upon request. However, the latest edition is the best, so you should probably
use it, regardless of the version of DB2 that you have.
Answering Questions
As a rule, I do not answer technical questions because I need to have a life. But I'm interested
in hearing about interesting SQL problems, and also about any bugs in this book. However
you may not get a prompt response, or any response. And if you are obviously an idiot, don't
be surprised if I point out (for free, remember) that you are an idiot.
Software Whines
This book is written using Microsoft Word for Windows. I've been using this software for
many years, and it has generally been a bunch of bug-ridden junk. I do confess that it has
been mildly more reliable in recent years. However, I could have written more than twice as
much that was twice as good in half the time - if it weren't for all of the bugs in Word.
Graeme
