Do The Math

Common SQL Mistakes

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Lack of appreciation for the level of the data leads to

meaningless queries and illogical group-bys
Select gender,
sum(user_count) as User_count2,
sum(revenue)
from
(Select gender,
unit_price as revenue,
Count(distinct user_id) as user_count
from Users u
join Orders o on o.user_id=u.id
join Order_items oi on o.id=oi.order_id
where status not in ('o','c')
group by gender,
revenue) a
group by gender

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Select gender,
sum(unit_price) as revenue,
Count(distinct user_id) as user_count
from Users u
join Orders o on o.user_id=u.id
join Order_items oi on o.id=oi.order_id
where status not in ('o','c')
group by gender

Use of a left join along with a where clause of the non-left

joined table leads to invalidity of the left join in itself
Select user_id,
gender,
created_at,
unit_price,
oi.id as item_id
from
users u
left join orders o on o.user_id = u.id
left join order_items oi on oi.order_id = o.id
where o.status not in ('o','c');

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Select user_id,
gender,
created_at,
unit_price,
oi.id as item_id
from
users u
left join (select * from orders
where status not in (o,c))o
on o.user_id = u.id
left join order_items oi on oi.order_id = o.id;

Lack of awareness of a self-join coupled with carelessness

about the level of data leads to unwanted Cartesian products
Select sum(oi.unit_price) as revenue
from
orders o
join orders o1 on o.user_id=o1.user_id
join order_items oi on oi.order_id=o1.id
where o.status not in ('o', 'c')
and o1.status not in ('o','c')

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Select sum(oi.unit_price) as revenue

from
orders o
join orders o1 on o.id=o1.id
join order_items oi on oi.order_id=o.id
where o.status not in ('o','c')

Joining two tables which are at different levels leads to

duplication/multiplication of numbers while aggregating
Select sum(unit_price) as total_revenue,
count(r.id) as total_referrals
from orders o
join referrals r on o.user_id=r.referring_user_id
join order_items oi on oi.order_id=o.id
where status not in ('o','c')

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Select sum(unit_price) as total_revenue,

sum(referrals) as total_referrals
from orders o
join (select referring_user_id,
count(distinct referrals.id) as referrals
from
referrals r
group by referring_user_id)r
on o.user_id=r.referring_user_id
join order_items oi on oi.order_id=o.id
where status not in ('o','c')