Database: Principles, Programming, and Performance, Second Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Elizabeth O'Neil (Author) "This chapter introduces the central ideas and definitions covered in the text..." (more)
Key Phrases: matching index scan, nfo table, ncomecl ass, New York, Universal Database, Set Query (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A standard text for database designers and programmers, Database: Principles, Programming, and Performance is out in a new edition. This latest version of the detailed work of the O'Neils includes a new chapter on Object-Relational Structured Query Language (SQL) and its implementations in Oracle and Informix products. On top of that, the authors have revised their chapters on basic and advanced SQL, and added product-specific details (particularly having to do with Oracle, Informix, and IBM DB2 database products) to most areas of their coverage. As a result of these revisions, this book does a great job of balancing academic material with practical examples.

Furthermore, this book does a good job of straddling the schism that's begun to open up in the world of database architecture. Perhaps better than any other volume, this book documents the emerging object-relational strategy for representing data fairly, although most of the authors' coverage (as is fitting) goes to the more firmly established and better-supported relational database model. The authors' style intersperses sequences of theory-oriented prose and diagrams with queries and other listings that have to do with specific implementations, allowing readers to observe many of the phenomena described here. This book is a fine picture of the state of the art, painted with influences from business as well as information science. --David Wall

Topics covered: Modern database design and operation, including basic Structured Query Language (SQL), Object-Relational SQL and the object-relational model, indexing, query parsing, and performance-minded design.

Review

"The chapter on object-relational database should be a great selling point for the book. No one else has the coverage on object relational that this chapter has; for example, the other new texts emphasize the purely object model. I think that the approach here is much more practical." - Betty Salzberg, Northeastern University "The coverage of this book is wonderful, especially the cutting-edge of object-relational systems ... [and] this is the only text I have seen that is not by Jeffrey Ullman that treats the theoretical material appropriately. The chapter on dependencies and relational design is excellent. Examples abound, the explanations are crisp and clear, and the appropriate concepts are discussed. I cannot wait to use it." - Bill Grosky, Wayne State University "This book makes an excellent text for anyone just approaching database systems. It's both an accessible refresher for those of us who have not been paying careful attention to developments in this area and a useful reference for designers and implementers who need just-in-time education." - Jim Gray, Microsoft Research "This book is excellent!" - Mike Hartstein, Oracle Corporation, Senior Director of Oracle8i Product Management

"The chapter on object-relational database should be a great selling point for the book. No one else has the coverage on object relational that this chapter has; for example, the other new texts emphasize the purely object model. I think that the approach here is much more practical."

-Betty Salzberg, Northeastern University

"The coverage of this book is wonderful, especially the cutting-edge of object-relational systems . . . [and] this is the only text I have seen that is not by Jeffrey Ullman that treats the theoretical material appropriately. The chapter on dependencies and relational design is excellent. Examples abound, the explanations are crisp and clear, and the appropriate concepts are discussed. I cannot wait to use it."

-Bill Grosky, Wayne State University.

"This book makes an excellent text for anyone just approaching database systems. It's both an accessible refresher for those of us who have not been paying careful attention to developments in this area and a useful reference for designers and implementers who need just-in-time education."

-Jim Gray
Microsoft Research

"This book is excellent!"

-Mike Hartstein, Oracle Corporation
Senior Director of Oracle8i Product Management -- Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 870 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 2 Sub edition (May 12, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558604383
• ISBN-13: 978-1558604384
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #815,279 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book you'll keep as a reference, August 29, 2000

By	G. Stark (Burbank, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After looking at the books used by the local LA Universities and Colleges to teach the subject, I felt very sad for the CS, and IT students of these schools. Lectures are one thing, having a good textbook is the other. It's the great textbook that doesn't go back for a refund after the quarters over. All I could find where books on Access programming. "Learn Access in 21 days", just does not do justice to Normalization theory. Books on SQL seem only to rehash syntax and provide the occasional example. I looked all over for a book that hit on the important topics a programmer, DB Analysts, or DB Administrator needs to know independent of the platform. Ample theory is presented here in an understandable way so those key concepts can be used to develop solutions to real world problems.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wordy, redundant, tedious, still a good coverage, October 10, 2001

By A Customer

I agree that this book could be well resumed in 300 pages. Too much text, too few figures. For instance, when you make a classification or an enumeration of things that have long definitions, it is a good idea to organize them in a bullet-list or numbered list or something similar, instead of just plain text. If you constanly fail to use such synthetic representations, the result is made of large chunks of plain text, hard to read, tedious, redundant.

Also, you can use more visual indicators that give you an instant information about various pieces of text: bold text, spaces, various font sizes and shapes, icons, etc, so that the reader can focus on particular sections of such a big book. They call it Readability, and it's far from being great here.

There are also some points left unfinished: when you read "The first idea would be to...", you expect that the second idea follows sometime. Well, there are exceptions in this book.

I like the idea of mixing theory with industry examples in the same book, but please make a clear separation. Sometimes I can't say whether a particular sentence refers to such a real system or it is a theoretical statement.

In conclusion, this book features a good coverage of the subject but also a lack of organization and readability.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best database book for engineers, December 5, 2002

By A Customer

This was my first database book which i have read, and I can honestly say that it made me an expert. All other books which iI read after this one seemed useless and very boring and content-weak. It's a heave book, I do agree on that, and it has too many theoretical and mathematical models applied to designing a database, but those actually make you understand the subject even more. I don't recommend this book for an average computer scientist, it is not appropriate for such a level. But if you're on your way to an engineering degree, I'm sure you will find this book very appealing.