Customer Reviews

Database Systems: Design, Implementation, and Management (with Premium Web Site Printed Access Card)

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

 

 

This book was required as the main text for an into to SQL course. Far too many pages to describe basic concepts. "Angry fruit salad" because of the gratuitous use of color and boxes that contribute little to the meaning of the content. Too much filler. Worthless as a desk reference, so traded back to Amazon.

Aside - too many texts nowadays are printed on these glossy pages which makes reading difficult in less than ideal conditions.

I had to purchase this textbook for a college class on database development. We covered about 7 chapters of the book in this class and I feel if we had used a different book I would have had a much better experience in the class. The book is a very dry read and not engaging in the slightest. It can be compared to sitting in a large lecture hall with no air conditioning listening to a monotone professor drone on for a hour. Quite a few times I fell asleep while attempting to read a chapter. I think the author(s) should work on their conversational tone and read up on the learning process to revamp how they deliver their material so it is more engaging and easier to learn and comprehend. Overall, I would not recommend this book and I would encourage teachers to not use this book. Unfortunately I have to use this book again for my next class - database implementation. Urgh!

I seriously wanted to shoot the writers of this book every time I opened it. From what I learned in class, the concepts this book attempts to teach are fairly simple but somehow this book makes every concept seem extremely difficult and confusing. Most of the book is filler. There are too many pointless, repetitive analogies and filler phrases. Often the book would explain something in a very convoluted way and then immediately follow with the phrase "Or more simply put" and then explain the concept in a clear and direct manner. I hated this book which led me to hate my class. If you are an instructor, I'd advise you to stay away from this book unless you want your students to be extremely frustrated.

This is NOT a text to learn SQL, PHP, or any particular database system. If you want a good text on design and standards, then this does do an excellent job of defining these.

Just finished up a class with this book and I am less than thrilled to have used this text. Having prior knowledge of many of the topics covered in this book, I felt as though this book was not designed with practicality in mind. Too many examples refer to database systems in a very generalized manner. I can understand why they would do this from a standpoint of trying to cover as many bases as possible, but the content loses direction by trying to make everybody happy.

If this were touted as just a design/standardization text, then it could have cut out about 4-5 chapters worth of unguided rhetoric and been an excellent piece on its own. What I mean by this, is that instead of taking a stand on say an Oracle system and providing good solid examples that can be explored and fished out throughly, it wastes time by pointing out dozens of minor differences between database systems leaving the student with little to go on. Database systems aren't that much different that they couldn't have just picked one and ran with it knowing that the student would be perfectly fine in the long run.

Also, the website content of this book should NOT be something one should have to pay extra for. In this book's case, there is maybe an extra chapter or so worth of text and some standard multiple choice quizs that just pull random terms out of the book with no real emphasis on importance.

Plenty of examples and explanations. Online answers to questions at the end of each chapter (Some questions are not answered)
Online quizes for each chapter were a great help. One hour to finish a quiz, then the quiz closes automatically.

Helps beginners get a jump start on DB systems, designs and implementation. Extensive excerises at the end of each chapter. Works well as a text book (which is what I used it as).

Why 4 stars? Because some of the concepts don't hold good once you have intermediate to advanced skills in DB.

If you are seriously interested in learning about a subject, this book will be hard to surpass in its content, organization, and delivery. It is one of the few textbooks that I have found where its supplemental aids are as valuable as they are. My hat is off to such a well done work - simply put - outstanding. It raises the bar for authors who want to know how to deal with a complex subject.