The Firebird Book: A Reference for Database Developers (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The Firebird Book: A Reference for Database Developers

Although less publicized than other open source database management systems, Firebird continues to gain a dedicated following of professional users. Figures have already reached hundreds of thousands worldwide, in Firebird’s short three-year history in open source. And until now, no other book has been available.

This is the first, official book on Firebird—the free, independent, open source relational database server that emerged in 2000. Based on the actual Firebird Project, this book will provide you all you need to know about Firebird database development, like installation, multi-platform configuration, SQL language, interfaces, and maintenance.

This comprehensive guide will help you build stable and scalable relational database back-ends for all sizes of client/server networks. The text is well-stocked with tips, code examples, and explanations to reinforce the material covered. This book concentrates on Firebird edition 1.5—complete with updated language, security and optimization features—without neglecting the needs of Firebird 1.0 users.

About the Author

Helen Borrie

Helen Borrie is a database and application developer, a member of the Firebird project team, and a former journalist who doubles as a technical writer. She is a frequent contributor to support lists for Firebird, InterBase, and Delphi database programming.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1128 pages
• Publisher: Apress (August 2, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590592794
• ISBN-13: 978-1590592793
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #560,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What A Great Book on Firebird!, September 4, 2004

By	Jack Frosch (St. Peters, MO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I took The Firebird Book with me to lunch figuring I'd thumb through the TOC and browse a few of the pages. Nearly two hours later, I realized I'd gone well past my planned lunch time.
What a great book!

I used InterBase for years and have been using Firebird since v1.0, but I've hardly begun to exploit a fraction of its features. I guess that's perhaps the best praise for InterBase/Firebird - you can just install it and begin using it without having to become an expert on it first. Honestly, the single most important thing I learned from the book so far is this: Wow! Have I been taking for granted just how great a product Firebird is!

Any companies still insisting on paying $5,000+ for a great database management system can just send me a check for $5,000 and I'll send you a copy of Firebird and this excellent book. Everyone else should just buy this book and download the totally free Firebird. (I downloaded my copy from http://www.ibphoenix.com)

I really appreciate the author pulling together so much information into one hefty volume and presenting it in such an understandable way. Also, my sincere thanks go out to all the original InterBase, and now Firebird, contributors for giving the little guy a really big database management system.

This book is truly a pleasure to read and will serve as a primary reference for a long time to come.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars keep your productivity if you migrate, October 9, 2004

By	W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In the field of open source, there are only a few major relational databases - MySQL, Postgres and Firebird. MySQL has been garnering prominent wins recently, whereas Firebird has been steadily chugging along with relatively little publicity. But the book shows that if you are considering a free database, you should seriously look at Firebird. The book describes a very highly fleshed out database, that supports much standard SQL querying. Plus Firebird has had stored procedures and foreign keys for some time. The book goes into detail on these. Whereas MySQL has only its latest version incorporating them. Not as mature as Firebird's.

The core of the book is its Part 5, with several chapters talking about Firebird's SQL variant. The good news is that you should recognise much of it already. Much of your previous SQL experience should carry over to Firebird. Preserves your productivity if you migrate.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-Written, Comprehensive, the Reason I Now Use Firebird RDBMS, October 31, 2005

By	Simplicissimus (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews

This book is very well crafted. It is organized and thorough. With this book, the Interbase 6.0 manuals (available free on-line in PDF) and the Firebird software, you can create and maintain high performance, industrial software for use in production in environments of any size. I can not reccommend this book highly enough. If you need a database for your next project, you owe it to yourself to try out Firebird SQL. Use Ms. Borrie's book as a guide.