Customer Reviews

Access from the Ground Up

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I wanted to find a worthwhile text to supplement the Access 2.0 introductory courses I developed. For beginners, this is the best of the bunch. Many introductory database books immediately dive into the specific program they are about. I think this is a disservice to the beginning reader. There are a few things which everyone needs to know about relational database design before even thinking about using such a program. One of the best things about this book is its initial chapter on the essentials of database analysis. It doesn't get into so much detail as to scare people away, but it successfully emphasizes the benefits of developing a plan before building an application. With this book as a start, the reader is less likely to develop the bad habit of "shooting from the hip". The remaining chapters cover tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros. The book includes useful exercises to develop the rudimentary skills that anyone needs to know in order to work with Microsoft Access. In fact, the exercises are unified in that they all revolve around a common theme: developing an application for a bookseller to track customers and inventory. It's a good example, since many aspects of the sample application can be used elsewhere. There is one major topic this book doesn't address, and that's how to write Access Basic code. But then, coding isn't a suitable topic for an introductory text, is it? If you're at that stage in your Access career, you need to look elsewhere for guidance. For absolute beginners, though, this is the only book I recommend. Steve Swope (Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer