Kirk Paul Lafler's PROC SQL Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Second Edition makes learning PROC SQL easy. This book serves as a reference guide for those needing to learn or even improve their SQL skills. The book is full of easy-to-follow examples that mimic the scenarios that you are likely to encounter in the business world. He covers all the basics and adds some extra tips for the rare times you might just need to understand more of the advanced features.

I really enjoyed Lafler's exploration of the SQL joins versus data step merges and methods for working with the various join types. PROC SQL has its advantages, and the data step has its advantages, Lafler certainly helps you understand that PROC SQL can be just as powerful if you just know a few tricks.

As an experienced PROC SQL user, even I picked up some tricks for working ODS and ways to debug my SQL code. It wouldn't be a book from the original @SAS_NERD without the extensive guidance on how to get better performance and efficiency from your SQL code. This book is a great addition to my SAS bookshelf!

Tricia Aanderud
President of And Data, Inc.

PROC SQL is a powerful, but complicated tool. In his book, PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Second Edition, Kirk Lafler serves it up in small bites, introducing new concepts by building examples layer upon layer. Before you know it, you've eaten the elephant.
Thanks for this opportunity to review Kirk's new book.

Mary F. O. Rosenbloom
Edwards Lifesciences, LLC

Kirk Paul Lafler's PROC SQL: Beyond the Basics Using SAS, Second Edition, is comprehensive, well organized, and easy to read. Each concept is followed by a real-world example that addresses the needs of a broad range of SAS users. Its lucid explanations make even complex topics such as set operators and correlated subqueries very easy to understand.

This book is beneficial to SQL users at all levels. Novices can use it continuously in their quest to learn and eventually master PROC SQL. Proficient programmers will come away with numerous tips. I especially benefitted from Lafler's discussion on case statements and joins.

As a SAS instructor, I will definitely recommend this book to my students.

Renu Gehring
SAS Author, Consultant

I thoroughly enjoyed evaluating Kirk's latest book. Demand for SQL programmers represents exponential usage, and interest continues to grow with respect to the power of SQL as a programming language, a data management tool, and a report writer.

Kirk's book addresses a variety of applications and appears to represent current ANSI standard definitions for SQL usage. It complements the SAS system with respect to treating SAS data sets as SQL tables, SAS observations as SQL rows, and SAS variables as SQL columns.

The style is fresh and informative. From the elementary to the more complex, the book represents a good update from the first edition. This new text should be a part of any programmer's library.

John Boiling
Duke University Faculty