Customer Reviews

Database System Concepts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This book is a requirement for a course that I am taking. The book is riddled with errors. You can randomly open any page from the book- and you will find typos and confusing text. On some pages, the powerpoint slides for the book do not even match with the text of the book. This is the sixth edition of this textbook. I consider it inexcusable that the book has hundreds of typos even after being published for more than ten years. As another reviewer pointed out, the additional material that is needed for the book -like SQL schemas- do not even exist in the book's website- contrary to what the book claims. Anybody who is considering this book should think twice. Please get it from the library - go through the book for a week to see what I mean- and dump the book for any book that should be better than this.

Too many database books ignore the semantics, research and design that go into databases. This book covers everything from the basics to the complex. You will learn the different design methdologies behind databases as well as the history and research that has gone into this field. You will also learn how to design and debug database systems. The book is excellently laid out and assumes no prior database knowledge. It doesn't discuss specific database systems, but it does cover the different styles and query languages you will come across (QBE, SQL, etc.) This book allows you to come away with the knowledge and expertise necessary for database applications. I highly recommend this book if you are interested in any way with databases. No matter what your interest, you will not come away empty handed.

I had this book for an intro to databases classe, and I have to agree that the material presented within is challenging; however, that doesn't mean that the book is bad - working with databases (outside of small academic projects) is very challenging. Most of the database developers that I work with have a BS or MS in CS as well as about 10 -15 years experience.

When I began working with Oracle in an employment situation with a complex schema - my appreciation for this book and the theories presented within grew enormously. If nothing else, you'll at least be able to speak intelligently about database related issues with your future (or current) co-workers.

This book is very comprehensive in covering all beginner aspects of database concepts. However, there are so many errors in this book I absolutely had to sell it because I couldn't stand keeping such a book. For the fifth edition I was very disappointed. The ERD symbols were incorrect, and there are typos galore. You actually have to know all about databases to actually read past the errors and understand everything. For someone who doesn't know database concepts, this book will only lead you to make errors when you try and apply the practices. I hope 6th edition is much better.

I bought this book as a requirement for a DB class. I am an extremely detail-oriented person, so take that into account, but while it always gives sufficient information to tell you about a subject, it does not always give enough information to allow you to synthesize on your own. Example is the section on relational calculus, which gives a very firm overview of what it is, but doesn't necessarily give enough info to be able to construct all of your own forms. I bought the Elmasri/Navathe book as a supplement, and the two together form a much better source. Elmasri sometimes uses a simpler syntax, but the explanation is more complete. Elmasri/Navathe's treatment of normalization is far more complete, also.

There are more errors in this text book than in any other text book that I have ever seen. In addition to frequency, some are huge, gaping errors in diagrams and equations that completely confuse the subject. Along with this, there is supplemental content that is mentioned in the text as being available on the website that does not even exist (at least at the time of this writing) and the content that is actually available has the quality of being produced during a weekend of absinthe binging. The quality of this text is totally unacceptable for a 6th edition and even more so considering the exorbitant price.

I read some of the reviews here. The comments varies from a good book to a worthless one.

If you are really interested in making a career out of databases, then this is a book you got to read. An analogy that comes to mind is "You got to have a strong foundation to build a sky craper". This is exactly what this book is. It helps you build a strong foundation.

I got hold of this book when I was in my 4th Semester of my BS in computer science (1994 - 2nd Edition of this book) to clear my Database concepts exam. Ever since, whenever I feel I might not have understood some concept, I go back to this book.

One thing you got to understand is, its not a book that you can just read through and tell people that you have understood the concepts. You need to work the book.

Rgds,
Naveen
IBM DB2 UDB Certified Specialist.

I found 4th edition of this book quite informative for a database programmer. It discusses how database works internally. It includes topics on data storage, B Tree, query processing, query optimization, parallel database, distributed database, web databases etc. However, the language should have been more comprehensive. Examples should be more.

It isn't a bad book, and I've to agreed that you do not need any prior database concepts to learn it....however I think some prior programming concepts might be of help...This book was used as the textbook of a database design course at the University of Illinois at Chicago(UIC). The students that took the courses has a business background, not a technical one; but because of that, most of them had trouble understanding the book and end up focusing more on the professor's notes. However, I do believe it is a good book for those who wants to go into details about databases.

This is the book I grab off of the shelf when I need to refresh my memory on database concepts. Do you need a background in programming? Absolutely. Can you learn from this book? Definitely. Is it a tough book? Yup. Databases are not for the tame...but if you want to learn, get yourself access to a database server and grab a copy of this book.