Preface

n 1998 SQL Anywhere 6 was released, with the new names Adaptive Server
Anywhere applied to the engine itself and SQL Anywhere Studio
applied to the product bundle, which now included SQL Modeler (later
called PowerDesigner). SQL Anywhere 6 was the version that introduced
Java in the database; later releases added proxy tables, the UltraLite deploy-
ment option, MobiLink synchronization, and an interactive debugger.
n 2000 SQL Anywhere 7 was released. It supported ASA databases as
MobiLink remote databases, and included UltraLite improvements, an
OLEDB driver, and dynamic cache resizing. Version 7 also introduced the
Java versions of ISQL and Sybase Central.
n 2000 iAnywhere Solutions, Inc. was founded as a subsidiary of Sybase.
n 2001 SQL Anywhere 8 was released. This version included hundreds of
enhancements but the big news was all about the query engine, which was
completely rewritten to improve performance and support future
enhancements.
n 2003 SQL Anywhere 9 was released. It included hundreds more enhance-
ments including more performance improvements, the Index Consultant,
support for OLAP, XML, and 64-bit processors, and many new SQL fea-
tures including recursive union and stored procedure calls in the FROM
clause.
In the years to come, as the prices of computers and hard drives continue to fall
and the performance and capabilities of SQL Anywhere continue to improve,
SQL Anywhere will be used for larger and more sophisticated applications. This
book is dedicated to that prospect, and the belief that you, the database designer
and application developer, will want to explore the capabilities of SQL Any-
where and exploit its features to the fullest.
This book is divided into 10 chapters, each with a single verb as its title,
arranged in a rough approximation of the tasks performed during the life cycle
of a typical database:
1. Creating
2. Inserting
3. Selecting
4. Updating
5. Deleting
6. Fetching
7. Synchronizing
8. Packaging
9. Protecting
10. Tuning
Chapter 1, Creating, starts with Codds 12 rules that define what a relational
database management system like SQL Anywhere really is. It then proceeds to
describe the five different kinds of tables SQL Anywhere uses: global perma-
nent, global temporary, local temporary, remote, and proxy. Chapter 1 also
covers data types, column properties like DEFAULT, and column and table con-
straints like CHECK and FOREIGN KEY, and ends with a discussion of
normalized design.
Chapter 2, Inserting, talks about putting data into the database, and it
covers five different flavors of INSERT as well as the LOAD TABLE statement
and ISQLs client-side alternative, the INPUT statement.
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