Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management (3rd Edition) [Paperback]

Thomas Connolly (Author), Carolyn Begg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0201708574 | ISBN-13: 978-0201708578 | Edition: 3

(Pearson Education) A new edition of a comprehensive guide to design, implementation and management of database systems. Features new coverage of relational algebra and relational calculus, query languages for XML, fact-finding techniques, semistructured data, and other topics. Previous edition: c1995. Softcover. DLC: Database design.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Database Systems' practical, hands-on approach makes it uniquely suited to providing a strong foundation in good database design practice. A clear introduction to design, implementation and management issues, as well as an extensive treatment of database language and standards, make this book an indispensable complete reference for database students and professionals alike. The new edition of this bestseller brings it up to date with the latest developments in database technology and builds on the clear, accessible approach that contributed to the success of previous editions.

A realistic case study integrated throughout the book enables complex subjects to be explained in the context of one understandable example, while three additional case studies allow readers to work through examples by themselves. Clearly stated chapter objectives and summaries guide the reader, highlighted key definitions and numerous worked examples illustrate the concepts, and review questions and exercises reinforce the material covered in each chapter.

Features

• Database design methodology is explicitly divided into three phases: conceptual, logical, and physical. Each phase is described in a separate chapter with an example of the methodology working in practice.
• Extensive treatment of SQL in three tutorial-style chapters.
• Comprehensive treatment of distributed, object-oriented, and object-relational DBMSs.
• Comprehensive introduction to data warehousing, OLAP, and data mining.
• Extensive treatment of the Web as an emerging platform for database applications with many code samples for accessing databases from the Web including JDBC, SQLJ, ASP, JSP, and Oracle's PSP.

New! For the third edition

• Use of UML notation for ER diagrams.
• New chapter on the relational algebra and relational calculus.
• New chapter on fact-finding techniques as a step prior to the start of the database design methodology.
• New chapter on Access and Oracle DBMSs, illustrating the difference between the two systems.
• New chapter on semistructured data, its relationship to XML, and query languages for XML.
• New chapter of data warehouse design using dimensionality modeling.
• Introduction of color to highlight the text and improve navigation through the book.
• Additional Web resources at www.booksites.net/connolly, such as prototype implementations of the case studies, and lab notes for Access.

About the Author

Both Thomas Connolly and Carolyn Begg have experience of database design in industry, and now apply this in their teaching and research at the University of Paisley in Scotland. Thomas Connolly has significant industrial experience, and was a designer of RAPPORT, the world's first commercial portable DBMS, and of the LIFESPAN configuration management tool - a winner of the British Design Award. He has recently launched a couple of eBusiness companies from the University. Carolyn Begg specialises in the application of database systems in biological research.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1236 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 3 edition (August 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201708574
• ISBN-13: 978-0201708578
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,617,406 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for a database course., December 15, 1998

By 

Tom VonOxford "schabetc" (Oxford, Oh USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management (International Computer Science Series) (Paperback)

I used this book to teach a course in Database Systems. I thought it gave the best presentation of typical database topics that I have ever seen. I believe that data modeling is the essence of database and this book has more chapters on database design than any other five database books combined. The chapter on normalization was at just the right level. At the same time, the book is one of the few to acknowledge the need for denormalization.

These authors have clearly been practitioners. It shows throughout the book.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive Book on Database Management Systems, November 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation, and Management (International Computer Science Series) (Paperback)

Comprehensive - that is the first word that comes to my mind after reading the book Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and Management. If you are in search of a book that will help you in mastering the subject of Database Management Systems this is it. The coverage is exhaustive and in-depth. While reading the table of contents and preface, I thought that the authors were very ambitious in the scope and are promising too much. But after reading the book, I am glad to say that I was mistaken - the authors have very successfully delivered whatever they have promised and more.

The book is ideal for a student of database management systems. It is also a valuable book for the practicing professional. In fact the people, who are in the database profession, who uses databases or develop applications involving database management systems, will find this book invaluable and will be able to appreciate it much more than a beginner. It is a connoisseur's delight.

The authors assume nothing. Each and every concept is built from scratch. The level of detail is so impressive that one can think this book as a collection of books of various database-related topics. For example, the section on SQL is so comprehensive that, it can stand on its own as a separate book. Such detailed coverage is found for all the topics in the book and is one of its best features. The case studies, worked examples and the presentation style, the concepts in boxes, excellent illustration, review questions, etc. will go a long way in improving the usefulness of the book.

Another feature that makes this book stand out form other books on database management, is its coverage of the latest technologies. The chapters of Distributed Database Management, Object-Oriented and Object-Relational Database Management Systems, Web based database applications, Data Warehousing, OLAP and Data Mining, etc. will prove invaluable to the students as well as the practitioners, novices as well as experts.

When dealing with theoretical concepts like data modeling, normalization, it is the usual practice of most authors either to go too mathematical or to gloss over the subject. This book is by far the best in this respect as it takes an optimum approach. The explanations are not too mathematical, but the topics are explained in sufficient detail, so that the reader will have a very good understanding of the concepts like normalization, functional dependency, etc.

Four most useful features of this book are the logical organization chart (suggesting the various paths that one can follow), the references, the suggested readings and the index. When reading or studying a book of this size - 1093 pages - these features are quite invaluable.

The usefulness of the book could have been improved if an electronic version was provided. It would have made references easy. Also the Deductive database model is not covered. An appendix on the database related sites on the Internet would have been nice. Also a description of the major database systems and vendors could have been included.

So in the final analysis, this is a must read and must have book for every database professional. For students it is a valuable course material. For professionals it is a very good self-study guide. For practitioners it an excellent refresher and a good way to keep track of the latest developments in the database field. An excellent buy!

Copyright 1998, Pegasus Book Club

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, readable book on Database Management Systems, July 2, 2005

By 

Bryan J. Higgs (Milford, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Database Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and Management (4th Edition) (Paperback)

I am struck by the types of comments that have been made about this book. There seem to be two camps:

1) Those who think it's a very well structured, interesting, informative book

2) Those who think it's a terrible book.

Those in the latter category seem to think that the terms 'tuples' (rows), 'relations' (tables), 'attributes' (columns) are somehow Britishisms, because the book is written by authors from a Scottish university. In fact, those terms are used in the database literature, and come from the mathematical foundation behind relational databases.

I use this book in a course I teach on Database Management Systems, and I have found it easier to read and use than many other academic database books. The first time I taught the course, I inherited the choice of text book from my predecessor; it was a disaster as a textbook! I substituted this book, and my students seem to like it reasonably well.

Because you can't reasonably cover the material in this book in a single semester, I do think that it might be better to break the book up into two smaller books. That way, the first of the two might be more usable in a single semester course. Not all colleges necessarily have a two semester sequence, and if they don't, this book is overkill for just a single semester.