From Book News, Inc.
In this revision of the 1999 edition, Harrington (computer science and information systems, Marist College) notes that her favorite opening line for her classes is: "Probably the most misunderstood term in all of business computing is database, followed closely by the word relational." In a presentation not requiring special computing background, she does clearly cover theoretical and practical aspects of the relational data model and database design. Includes three database design case studies and a glossary of terms.Book News, Inc.®, Portland, OR


Book Description

Fully revised and updated, Relational Database Design, Second Edition is the most lucid and effective introduction to relational database design available. Here, you'll find the conceptual and practical information you need to develop a design that ensures data accuracy and user satisfaction while optimizing performance, regardless of your experience level or choice of DBMS.

Supporting the book's step-by-step instruction are three case studies illustrating the planning, analysis, and design steps involved in arriving at a sound design. These real-world examples include object-relational design techniques, which are addressed in greater detail in a new chapter devoted entirely to this timely subject.

* Concepts you need to master to put the book's practical instruction to work.
* Methods for tailoring your design to the environment in which the database will run and the uses to which it will be put.
* Design approaches that ensure data accuracy and consistency.
* Examples of how design can inhibit or boost database application performance.
* Object-relational design techniques, benefits, and examples.
* Instructions on how to choose and use a normalization technique.
* Guidelines for understanding and applying Codd's rules.
* Tools to implement a relational design using SQL.
* Techniques for using CASE tools for database design.


Book Info
Teaches database practitioners the principles of good relational database design. Discusses tradeoffs between theory and practice. Shows readers how to construct the SQL statements needed to install well-designed relational databases and design. Previous edition c1998. Softcover.


Card catalog description
Relational Database Design Clearly Explained provides a straightforward and in-depth explanation of the creation and maintenance of relational databases. Database management and design expert Jan L. Harrington shares useful advice necessary for good relational database design, and offers practical tips and techniques for creating the support and efficiency you want your database to provide.


From the Back Cover

Fully revised and updated, Relational Database Design, Second Edition is the most lucid and effective introduction to relational database design available. Here, you'll find the conceptual and practical information you need to develop a design that ensures data accuracy and user satisfaction while optimizing performance, regardless of your experience level or choice of DBMS.

Supporting the book's step-by-step instruction are three case studies illustrating the planning, analysis, and design steps involved in arriving at a sound design. These real-world examples include object-relational design techniques, which are addressed in greater detail in a new chapter devoted entirely to this timely subject.

Coverage Includes
Concepts you need to master to put the book's practical instruction to work.
Methods for tailoring your design to the environment in which the database will run and the uses to which it will be put.
Design approaches that ensure data accuracy and consistency.
Examples of how design can inhibit or boost database application performance.
Object-relational design techniques, benefits, and examples.
Instructions on how to choose and use a normalization technique.
Guidelines for understanding and applying Codd's rules.
Tools to implement a relational design using SQL.
Techniques for using CASE tools for database design.

FROM OUR EDITORS

The Barnes & Noble Review
So you need to master relational database design, but you don￯﾿ﾽt know E. F. Codd from Mahi-Mahi? Read Jan Harrington￯﾿ﾽs Relational Database Design Clearly Explained, Second Edition. Harrington has distilled her extensive teaching and database development experience into a book that carefully balances theory and practice, addresses crucial issues like performance and accuracy, and will help you regardless of which database platform you￯﾿ﾽre working with.

Harrington begins by reviewing the problems that database design ought to solve, then offering a cogent introduction to entities and data relationships, explaining key concepts like domains and many-to-many relationships, and showing how relationships connect with business rules. She illuminates each element of the relational database model, including tables, primary keys, views, data dictionaries, and referential integrity. The book covers normalization through 4NF; the basics of object-relational database design; the key connections between database structure and performance; and all 12 of Codd￯﾿ﾽs seminal Rules, even those -- like Integrity Independence -- that are rarely honored in full.

That￯﾿ﾽs the first half of the book. In the second half, you put these concepts to work, through three detailed case studies drawn from business, the nonprofit sector, and government. This is how it￯﾿ﾽs done. (Bill Camarda)

Bill Camarda is a consultant, writer, and web/multimedia content developer. His 15 books include Special Edition Using Word 2000 and Upgrading & Fixing Networks For Dummies®, Second Edition.

ANNOTATION

Audience: SQL programmers, database developers, database adminstrators, database designers, upper division undergraduate-level courses in computer science or data management.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Relational Database Design Clearly Explained provides a straightforward and in-depth explanation of the creation and maintenance of relational databases. Database management and design expert Jan L. Harrington shares useful advice necessary for good relational database design, and offers practical tips and techniques for creating the support and efficiency you want your database to provide.

FROM THE CRITICS

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