Readings in Database Systems [Paperback]

Joseph M. Hellerstein (Editor), Michael Stonebraker (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262693143 | ISBN-13: 978-0262693141 | Publication Date: January 7, 2005 | Edition: fourth edition

Lessons from database research have been applied in academic fields ranging from bioinformatics to next-generation Internet architecture and in industrial uses including Web-based e-commerce and search engines. The core ideas in the field have become increasingly influential. This text provides both students and professionals with a grounding in database research and a technical context for understanding recent innovations in the field. The readings included treat the most important issues in the database area -- the basic material for any DBMS professional.This fourth edition has been substantially updated and revised, with 21 of the 48 papers new to the edition, four of them published for the first time. Many of the sections have been newly organized, and each section includes a new or substantially revised introduction that discusses the context, motivation, and controversies in a particular area, placing it in the broader perspective of database research. Two introductory articles, never before published, provide an organized, current introduction to basic knowledge of the field; one discusses the history of data models and query languages and the other offers an architectural overview of a database system. The remaining articles range from the classical literature on database research to treatments of current hot topics, including a paper on search engine architecture and a paper on application servers, both written expressly for this edition. The result is a collection of papers that are seminal and also accessible to a reader who has a basic familiarity with database systems.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

The latest edition of a popular text and reference on database research, with substantial new material and revision; covers classical literature and recent hot topics.

Michelle A. Mullen, M.H.P., Ph.D., is a member of the Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, and Institute of Women's Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa. She is also a Bioethicist with Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario. She has published across broad cognate areas, including basic and clinical research, policy analyses, and in consultation with government, including Canada's Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies.

Joseph M. Hellerstein is Professor, Computer Science Division, at the University of California, Berkeley, and Director, Intel Research Berkeley.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 864 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; fourth edition edition (January 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262693143
• ISBN-13: 978-0262693141
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #720,485 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Gold Mine of Database Systems Topics, August 28, 2007

By 

Ed Knorr (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Readings in Database Systems (Paperback)

The book is an outstanding compilation of influential database papers in the database world. Most of the papers are readable for a senior undergraduate audience, or a graduate audience, but probably not for a first course in database systems, simply because students would need a decent understanding of database principles to fully appreciate the contents of this book.

In particular, I like the introductory commentary that Hellerstein and Stonebraker provide for each of the chapters. These are very nice summaries, and they also provide a teaser for the papers that follow in the chapter, and they justify why those papers were included. Both of the editors have the background to speak authoritatively on the subject of database systems, including OS, network, and architectural issues. The editors are not afraid to make prophetic comments about the direction of database research, and the challenges ahead, especially with respect to the Internet and the explosion of data.

I love the two introductory papers by Stonebraker and Hellerstein: "What Goes Around Comes Around" (about 40 pages), and "Anatomy of a Database System" (about 50 pages). The first is a summary of the major models of a DBMS: hierarchical, network, and relational; followed by other models of a DBMS, database, or data: entity-relationship, extended relational, semantic, object-oriented, object-relational, and semi-structured (XML). I intend to give this paper as a reading assignment to my senior undergrads (part of a 2nd database course).

The Anatomy paper is a wonderful overview of a DBMS from a systems perspective (e.g., buffering, I/Os, threads, dispatching, bottlenecks,
hardware architectures, parallelism, query rewriting, optimization, etc.) I'll have to see how this paper fits into the scheduling of the course topics before assigning it, since many of its topics require an understanding of both systems and database principles for full appreciation.

This book is definitely a keeper on my shelf. I'll revisit it many times.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent readings in DB design, October 13, 2005

By 

Gregory Gibeling "Doctoral Student" (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Readings in Database Systems (Paperback)

I am somewhat biased in that I'm taking a course which is co-taught by Hellerstein, however if you're looking to complete understand how database or transaction management systems: this will be an invaluable source of information.
Crammed into this book are a number of papers detailing the history and state of database design as it has evolved over the last 40years, including most of the semainal papers in the field.
Don't expect to read this sucker cover-to-cover, take your time, but it's a good compilation.