Designing Relational Database Systems (Dv-Mps Designing) (Paperback)

~ (Author) "So, what is this mythical creature called a relational database?..." (more)
Key Phrases: mnemonic access keys, jet database engine, nonexistent values, Visual Basic, Microsoft Access, Chef Anton's Cajun Seasoning (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Because they're so complicated, many books on relational databases are either burdensomely academic (Database Management Systems is the classic example of this mode--it's superb, but one practically needs a professor to help you decode it) or so practical-minded as to be overly simple. Designing Relational Database Systems has struck an attractive balance between the two extremes by providing enough theory to enable you to design your databases intelligently, while keeping in mind real-world business practices and the practical limitations of actual database management systems.

Author Rebecca Riordan emphasizes Microsoft database products to a small degree, using Microsoft Access and the Jet engine in some of her examples. The Microsoft overtones aren't overpowering, by any means.

Riordan is an excellent writer, communicating complex details about database design clearly, referring to reinforcements (in the form of arrow-linked tables or conceptual flow diagrams) with great effect. She also uses anecdotal information--stories about getting customers to explain exactly what they want from a database system, for example--to communicate lots of practical advice to the reader. This book would be better with more information on platform-independent user interface design--which is key in publicly accessible Web databases--but that's a minor fault. Read this book if you want to be a more capable database architect. --David Wall

Topics covered: The theory and practice of designing relational databases and their management systems. The author explains tables and their relationships, queries, business logic, database schema, and interface design.

About the Author

With 17 years of experience in software design, Rebecca M. Riordan has earned an international reputation as a consultant, systems analyst, and designer of database and work-support systems. Her work experience includes leading small "strike-team" development projects in the United States and Australia, managing the professional services department of one of Australia's largest computer retailers, and serving as a senior technical support engineer for Microsoft-Australia. She has presented sessions at Tech-Ed conferences on topics such as reusable system components and searchable data stores, and at the Australian Computer Society on topics such as designing for usability and usability testing.

Product Details

• Paperback: 293 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Pr (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 073560634X
• ISBN-13: 978-0735606340
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,149,107 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There are times when I whish for the six star, December 18, 2000

By A Customer

I think that every application that I've been involved with has had a database behind it. I know that this is not always the case for other developers, but I think that in fact, most applications will need to store and retrieve information. My feeling is that there are a lot of application developers out there that would find the subject of this book very interesting.

Building a fundamentally correct Database System is not an easy task. I think that even experienced people do have their doubts about what would be the best solution to a particular problem. Because there are not any pre-made solutions for every application, each case must be looked at independently and will have different solutions. Additionally, I believe that many of the problems with the database schema will only show up very late in the development cycle. At this point it's very difficult to make major changes the underlying schema because you've already laid the foundation for your application.

If the design of the schema is a difficult task then the solution is reading, and learning about the subject. In my opinion the problem here is that many of the texts that I've read are too much theory and are not focussed on the real problems experienced in the day-to-day workplace. This is what I think is one of the strongest points in this book. The author has 17 year of experience in the design of database systems. This gives her the chance of understanding first hand what the problems are faced in the real world and combine that with a solid comprehension of the theory of design. The result is the best of the two world's, making this text a fundamental reference for the design of working database systems.

Another important issue to point out is that the text of the book is so interesting, that you can pass the book to member's of the team not responsible for design, so they can understand the why certain issues are handled in a specific manner.

The book is divided in three main subjects Relational Database Theory, Designing Relational Databases Systems and Designing the User Interface. Up front I think that the inclusion of the last part is a major improvement and makes the difference between a purely academic approach and real world approach.

In my opinion this is not the ultimate word in any of the 3 main subjects, and further I think that this was not the intention of the author of the book. This text will bring organization to the reader's concepts of database design and a stepping stone to better understanding the underlying theory. Those readers wishing to continue their education will appreciate the excellent bibliography at the end of the book.

Well if my personal experience means anything, I was very pleased after reading this book. I've changed a lot of the ways our group of developers approached designing databases. The book was a great help organizing our concepts of database design and more importantly it helped a lot in consolidating the way we plan our new projects.

In my humble opinion, this is a "MUST BUY BOOK".

Pedro Gil

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reasonable introduction, a bit lightweight for professionals, November 14, 2000

By	A.M. - See all my reviews

A decent enough introductory book, but it just lacks a certain something. Certainly it introduces the main concepts of Entity-Relationship diagrams and how to go about designing databases. It also describes the development of databases within the wider context of developing systems, and includes chapters on user interface design (which draw much from Alan Cooper's "About Face").

However, I felt that certain topics such as entity supertypes/subtypes and resolving many-many relationships were not explained clearly enough for beginners to fully understand, whilst explanations of other topics were either a little loose in their use of language (e.g. talking about "relations with duplicate rows"), or not sufficiently in-depth enough for the professional database designer.

Perhaps I expected too much from the book's claims of "professional-quality relational database development" and "develop robust, professional-level database systems".

Claims to be an introduction for "beginning database designers" are more on target. I think the book will be most useful for new database designers/application developers who haven't studied a course on relational databases before, and who need a straightforward introduction to database design and development.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Coverage of Data Base Design, January 18, 2000

By	Stephen Jeffries (Sydney, NSW, Australia) - See all my reviews

If you are moving out of basic databases into more advanced database design then this is the book for you. I have found this book to be an invaluable reference for building solid database designs for web applications. This book was easy to read, with a clear style communicating the concepts of database design, as compared to other texts I have read. I have been able to take to concepts from this book and improve existing application designs, delivering better applications. I would recommend Rebecca's book to anyone who wants to get a handle on this complex topic, in a clear, and easy to read manner.