Customer Reviews

Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

As a professional database consultant and college instructor, I found this textbook to be an academic exercise that is flawed in defining basic concepts and filled with useless details.

While Rob and Coronel are listed as the authors, it's obvious that this was a departmental project at the Middle Tennessee State University, where they teach. The writing style is one of boring exposition perfomed by a team of writers against an arbitrary outline.

It's incredible that a 750-page university text in 4th edition has inaccurate definitions and misleading examples of the basic concepts of the field. They don't event get 1st Normal Form right...as they show data in redundant rows and call that "repeating groups." For Transactions they give the ANSI definitions for COMMIT and ROLLBACK and then claim that they don't need to be used if "the application terminates normally." So, does that mean we should only use transaction processing when we write SQL with the intent to make applications that abend?

The book revels is lots of useless details, providing more quantity that quality. Oddly, while the authors present themselves as Oracle experts, all the data shots (and accompanying databases provided on an instructor's CDROM by publisher Thomson Learning) are rendered in Microsoft Access.

Many of the problems provided at the chapter ends are literally impossible to complete. How can a student normalize a one-row data sample with no business case or rules? How is a student supposed to derive exact Semester beginning and ending points from a list of random dates? Apparently, the editors didn't bother to have anyone attempt solving such problems.

This textbook does not provide adequate training for basic SQL, professional database development, or serious database administration. I was forced to use it for college classes, and I supplemented with more outside material than I could cull from the text. It's not enough to allude to things like triggers and stored procedures--you have to actually write them in the real world.

There are many other database books to choose from for both theory and practice.

Designing databases is hard work and involves a lot of thinking. This books makes it easy. It's very explantory, uses real-life examples, and encourages the reader to do some studying on his own. However, I have to deduct one crown...the book would be even better if it came with a CD-ROM. Typing all examples by hand into my PC may be the right (and hard) way to learn, but it's tiring.

First let me just say I liked this book. Why? Because it is a pretty IT book with useful and informative color screenshots and illustrations that are explanatory. It is of course both fortunate and unfortunate that the author uses screenshots of MS Access databases almost exclusively.

I do wish the author had spent more time discussing web-database application integration. Also, he only used Coldfusion (the most expensive variety) to illustrate web-database interactivity. This is great for learning some basic Coldfusion tagging, but how about something useful for small-time web hosters and others who want to use PHP, which is not only free but more powerful than Coldfusion. Ah well.

This book is very large in height - you'll see what I mean when you pick it up. The sections on ER diagramming, SQL, normalization, and design are top notch. However when the book gets into the later chapters, and covers more difficult subjects such as distributed database apps, transactional databases and Internet-related topics the coverage becomes a little weak. He does give a fine overview of all the topics presented however and the book is not totally boring to read either. The author is very lucid.

I recommend this book as an introductory text on databases but nothing more.

Great text book, but like all students I was looking for the cheapest price tag. I got the international edition for half the price, however, I discovered that it was missing pages, though the cover claims that it has the exact same content as US Edition. It is also missing a CD. The US Edition comes with 2 CD's including the SQL Server CD, which the international edition doesn't come with.
Unless you have a friend from whom you can copy the missing pages, hopefully if you discovered them early enough before an exam or homework, and the CD, you're better off paying the $120+ price tag for a US edition.

The book covers all relevant topics in the database processing and management area. It is a good read if you know the subject area well. I found it too stressful for the eyes as the writing is so small.

A very useful book for a complex subject. To be fair, I must disclose that I just completed the Database Techniques course at Middle Tennessee State with Mr. Coronel as the instructor (a co-author of the book). I do not know Dr. Rob, but Coronel was a great teacher and used the book extensively. We covered the entire book (5th ed) and I have actually read it; unlike some reviewers have admitted too. I believe the book is useful for learning the basics of database design. Topics such as normalization, entity relationships and SQL queries and transactions are very complex. I had been exposed to these topics in other classes, but never quite grasped them. This book helped me understand these topics and to achieve proficiency in using the tools in database design. The problems and review questions at the end of each chapter were useful for applying the knowledge in hands-on exercises to reinforce learning. Other reviewers have given the book low scores for having mistakes and unworkable assignments. Sure the book has mistakes, but I do not believe any book is perfect. The class found some mistakes in the 5 th ed, but those were noted and will be corrected in the next edition. Also mentioned by a reviewer were the assignments that were "literally impossible" to complete. That's curious? I completed them just fine. This isn't a book I would buy to just try to learn on my own. I think you need an experienced teacher to guide you through the process. However, if this book is required for a database class and you are debating whether you should by it, by all means, get it. I think you can learn much from it.

The biggest problem with finding books on designing databases is that there are so few around for a topic that is so important. All the other books I have seen to date have explanations that are either unrealistically convoluted or to simplistic to have any real world use. This book is an exception by presenting data modelling in a practical and logical manner.

The only negative side is that the text in the latest edition is very small but for the only decent book on data modelling that's out there its worth getting out the glasses. I would have given this book 4 stars for its overall value but felt that some of the single stars were unfair.

I am currently taking a class using this book. There are quite a few plusses in this textbook. One of the main benefits of this book has to be the fact that they way that it was written makes it fairly easy to read. The way it was written facilitates understanding of a very difficult subject. Another huge plus is the fact that through the book it is full of diagrams and pictures. These examples add a huge level of understanding. On the other hand there are a few negatives. At times the book can be a little long winded. Also some of the examples can be a little archaic and unorganized. I would recommend this book for people that want to get an understanding of how databases work. I would not recommend the book for people that want specific instruction of how to implement one.

This being my first book about databases, I find that it explains the topic at hand very well, and concisely. While database design can be daunting of a task, the book guides the reader through it step by step, explaining exactly why something is like it is. The first chapters discuss the different models that were in use and what is becoming mainstream right now. Very easy to read, but some technological insight is suggested when starting this.

If you are taking a college level course in the fundamentals of database design and you are having a hard time understanding what your professor is talking about, then this textbook is a must. Your professor might cover the topics in a difference sequence, but you could very easily find your way around in this textbook. It covers all the basics of relational design (which is the topic most colleges teach) in an excellent manner. It is full of textual examples coupled with graphical representations. No need to get the latest edition. Even an older one would do. Have fun with databases.