Customer Reviews

Database Management Systems

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book was required for my database course, so I didn't really have a choice about buying it. It has numerous typos (I stopped marking them when I hit 7 or 8 by the third chapter) which often cause problems because they're not spelling errors but rather substitutions of terms or incorrect figure numbers. Also, a large portion of the questions at the end of chapter 5 cover material that is not presented until chapter 6.

I'm a college student so I don't have much money. I've had to buy 2 additional books for this course just to understand what's going on. There are VERY few examples (it really seems like the more complex the topic, the fewer examples are shown). Figures are usually only printed once, even if they are referred to repeatedly, so be prepared to spend time flipping back and forth to view a table that was shown to you several chapters ago.

Moreover, formal definitions are given without explanation. As a 'learning' tool this book does more harm than good. It might have some value as a reference book because it concisely covers a very wide range of topics. The book makes more sense if you read it when you already know/understand everything (maybe that's why some instructors seem to love it). However, for students it's like trying to put a puzzle together when you don't have all the pieces and you don't have a clue what the picture is supposed to look like. By the way, I'm also a straight 'A' senior, and trying to learn from this book has been one of the most frustrating and unrewarding experiences I've had in college thus far.

Just BEWARE!!!

I was forced to buy this book as my instructor follows this book in his graduate level database management class. I was really disappointed after "studying" this book. I do not know the expertise level of the author in database management but he does not know how to explain different aspects of database management systems. I think he feels obligated to use complex sentences in his book to explain various topics. Probably he does not know that in the scientific world using simple sentences are more norm than fashion. After reading some of the topics, I was really lost. For eg. on normalization the author does not even talk about first normal, second normal form but starts from the BCNF. The chapters on tree structured indexing and hash-based indexing are horrible. While reading these chapters, there were times, when I was totally confused and wondered what exactly the author was trying to convey. I would suggest to author to read the book "Modern Database Management" by McFadden, Hoffer and Prescott in order to "learn" how to write a book and how to explain topics in a simpler way. I am really disppointed with the author. I will not recommend any computer science students to buy this book for reference and would not recommend instructors to follow this book in their classes. Buying this book was a waste of money.

Most of examples in this book are in words, not in pictures. Text is not structured very well, key words are not highlighted with bold font as you'd expected. You have to do your own work with highlighter / pencil to find and mark the key points in the text. Examples, if any, are explained sometimes too briefly. Problems and especially solutions to the problems (on the author's web site) are very good. This book is not for novices; you'll have to invest a lot of time to understand the subject and what was implied by the author.

I always wanted to know about the internals of DB but could not find all the info in one place. This is the THE book for anyone interested in knowing how a DBMS actually works. Raghu Ramakrishnan is well known for excellent educational software. I have used CORAL(A Deductive Database from UW) here at ASU and expected to find technically rich material in this book, and I was not disappointed. Reading the source code of Microbase(a stripped down version of Minibase) proved very illuminating for me(especially the parser/optimizer part). Go read this book!

Reviewed by Qi Luo

I have read quite a few books about Database Management Systems in the market. I have worked for many leading companies to build large-scale high-performance trading engine systems for stock exchanges, such as Pacific Exchange, the national third largest, NASDAQ Stock Market, the national second largest, commodities exchanges, and Internet auction engine, and global company rating search engines. This book is the first one that systematically discusses the internal architecture and physical structure of DBMS. I found this book is very detail-oriented, practical, and accompanied by hands-on projects on the Internet. After I reviewed carefully this book, I like it full of details about the internal architecture and physical structure of DBMS, a lot of interesting exercises following each chapter. It's a good mix of database theory and practice.

I always wanted to introduce the internals of DBMS, but could not find an easy way to do all the information once in one place. This book gave me some useful hints to introduce DBMS for anyone interested in knowing how a DBMS actually works. Professor Raghu Ramakrishnan is well known for educational software. I have used CORAL(A Deductive Database from UW) and expected to find technically rich material in this book, and I was not disappointed. Reading the source code of Microbase (a stripped down version of Minibase) proved very interesting, especially the parser and optimizer parts.

This book makes readers to understand difficult but important concepts easier and deeper when they can put their hands on the real database, of course a smaller one, to modify, change, and run it. This kind iteration can be repeated again and again if the reader likes when she or he is the owner of the real database.

When the publisher and author requested me to be a beta test site for the book about two years back, I noticed the book written by some one who is at University of Wisconsin, written papers in logic programming. The author and I exchanged email during the first a few months when his book was released. After the book was released two years ago, I saw that a lot of colleges overwhelmingly adopted it immediately for their undergraduate and graduate courses. I like the way the material is presented - keeping the practical implication, real life application in mind all the time, e.g. section 5.7, 5.8 on B-trees, these practical aspects are rarely mentioned in other sources outside searching and sorting field. Query processing topics in Chapter 12, Chapter13 are presented as practical material that keeps the presentation of material interesting rather than making it boring. The best I have liked so far is the coverage of concurrency control, transaction-processing issues in Chapter 17, and Chapter 18. All the things are well tied together. Material is presented in the order that makes user understand the material easier- serializability is introduced right at the beginning, as well as after a whole lot of definitions and theorems. Lot of "not-so-significant" material is made brief such as material in Section 17.8. The above topics I have read are discussed in detail. The complete solutions also available online well complements the text material.

In some sense, this book is not for novices. It provides a good whole picture of basic introduction of DBMS, rather than an average introductory textbook. I do have a number of minor suggestions, which is already communicated to the author. A number of examples in this book are in words, not in pictures. Text is somehow not structured perfectly; key words are not highlighted with bold font as you'd expected. You have to do your own work. Examples, some of them, are explained sometimes too briefly. Problems and especially solutions to the problems (on the author's web site) are very good, but they may give some lazier professors a source to copy everything to teach their students. Students may try to access or break the security to access the solutions. This book is not, in some sense, for novices; you'll have to invest a lot of time to understand the subject and sometimes what was implied by the author.

I was a little unsatisfied on the lack of depth in certain areas, i.e. buffer management, indexing schemes. B-Trees and Hashing described but not explained thoroughly. Two hashing schemes discussed but neither provided enough information to implement without first solving some hard problems. More information on various locking schemes would be nice. Some areas need revision or reorganization in its future editions, such as referring to terms and concepts before they are introduced; some phrases need further polishing, and there are still some typographic errors. In some discussion, it can make it plainer to be understood. Chapter 9, SQL: THE QUERY LANGUAGE may be discussed in more depth in the next editions.

If you teach a database management course in an "high-end" under graduate or graduate program, I suggest that you take a close look into this book. It provides a comprehensive and well-balanced selection of topics (technical, theoretical, and practical), detailed writing, and a clear presentation in some sense. This book is the most detailed one about the implementation of database architecture and internal structure. From what I've seen thus far, it's probably one of the best general-purpose database management textbooks in the market.

I believe some people will be able to use materials in their work based on the information in this book.

All in all, I was quite satisfied with this book as a first book for hands-on Database Management Systems study.

As my first exposure to database implementation I found this book very useful.

I'm working on a proprietary implementation for my company, and was able to make good decisions based on the information in this book.

I was unsatisfied on the lack of depth in certain areas, I.E. buffer management, indexing schemes (BTrees, and Hashing described. Two hashing schemes discussed but neither provided enough information to implement without first solving some hard problems.)

More information on various locking schemes would have been nice.

All in all, I was quite satisfied with this book as a first book for implementors. Not a waste of money.

This is a poorly written, badly organized, and inaccurate book. It commits, repeatedly, the mortal sin of any text book by reffering to terms and concepts before they are introduced; its use of language is, well, 'non standard'; and there are plenty of typos. All in all a waste of money!

When the publisher/author requested me to be a beta test site for the book about 2 years back, I thought the book written by some one who is at U of Wisconsin, written papers in logic programming would not be suitable for RMIT and gave a diplomatic reason to the author when he probed further by email. When the book was released in Australia a few months back we adopted it immediately for our 3rd year under grad. students although the book was expected to arrive a few days late for start of classes. I like the way the material is presented - keeping the practical implication/real life application in mind all the time, eg. section 5.7, 5.8 on B-trees(I rarely find these practical aspects mentioned in other sources). Query processing topics in Chap 12, 13 are presented as practical material which keeps the students interest rather than making it boring. The best I have liked so far is the coverage of concurrency control, transaction processing issues in Chap 17, 18. All the things are well tied together. Material is presented in the order that makes user understand the material - serializability is introduced right at the beginning (as against after a whole lot of definitions and theorems). Lot of insignificant(not the right word) material is made brief such as material in Section 17.8. The above topics I have read in detail and covered in the lectures. I have browsed through data mining, oodb, dist. dbs chapters and like the coverage and will be covering in lectures in the next few weeks. The complete solutions available online well complements the text material. I will have more detailed comments at the end of the semester. I do have a number of minor suggestions which is better communicated to the author. The best sentence is the one acknowledging his brother!

If you teach a database management course in an "high-end" undergaduate program, I suggest that you take a close look into this book. It provides a comprehensive and well-balanced selection of topics (technical, theoretical, practical), non-nonsense and accurate writing, and lucid presentation. From what I've seen thus far, it's probably the best general-purpose database management textbook in the market.

Bad Writing, make me always doubt about my ability of understanding,if it was not a textbook,I will throw it into garbage already