From Library Journal
Bullen, an automation consultant, and Davis, author of Pascal Programming for Libraries (Greenwood, 1988), argue that librarians may acquire some "control of all the elements that make up a database" by learning fundamental principles of database design and management. Their argument is intuitively sound, but it doesn't necessarily justify abandoning existing commercial database products in favor of a homemade package built from scratch. The authors use Turbo Pascal to illustrate the application of general principles relating to data structures, file structures, sorting, searching, and interface design. Examples from early chapters are incorporated into more elaborate examples later on. More than half of the text consists of Pascal source code. In this respect it is similar to Karl Beiser's dBase guides for librarians (e.g., Essential Guide to dBase IV in Libraries , Meckler, 1991), which combine complete custom dBase programs with clear explanations and instructions for usage. Beiser's works are particularly handy because the programs may be copied directly from disks available for purchase with the books. The authors' programs here must be entered at the keyboard. However, their primer has been designed as an instructional tool and may be recommended to library school students and ambitious librarians who already "know basic programming techniques in Pascal . . . ." Readers interested in a thorough treatment of Turbo Pascal will want to consider Tom Swan's Mastering Turbo Pascal 6 (Sams, 1991. 4th ed.) or any of a large number of current reference and instruction manuals. This review did not include actual testing of the book's programs.--Ed.
- Dean C. Rowan, Whittier P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
- Dean C. Rowan, Whittier P.L., Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
