Conventions Used in This Book

The following typographical conventions are used in this book:

Italic

Indicates emphasis and new terms, as well as book titles.

Constant width

Indicates SQL and, generally speaking, programming languages' keywords; table, index and column names; functions; code; or the output from commands.

Constant width bold

Shows commands or other text that should be typed literally by the user. This style is used only in code examples that mix both input and output.

Constant width italic

Shows text that should be replaced with user-supplied values.

This icon signifies a maxim and summarizes an important principle in SQL.

This is a tip, suggestion, or general note. It contains useful supplementary information about the topic at hand.