Designing Effective Database Systems

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Information for Anyone
Review: Realistically, software developers are not the only only people who utilize databases. Any person who professionally works with computers deals with databases whether they know it or not. The database may not be a physical entity like a SQL or JET file, but something more subtle or conceptual such as your computers file system, the registry, the Active Directory, etc. The ability to understand and leverage databases is of great benefit to all IT professionals, and this book is a great place to start.

Despite what the title implies, the focus of this book is not in developing any specific database system or learning a specific development platform, but rather to intellectually understand what makes a database a database, how a database should be structured, the steps needed to design an efficient database for the situation, how to pull data from the database in a meaningful way, and even the steps to take to develop the user interface. This is accomplished by walking you thru each concept and building on the information gained prior. Information is provided as clearly as it can be for the topic, and there is no shortage of visual aids.

The fact that the author uses two Microsoft products (SQL and Access) to demonstrate concepts is more out of convenience than anything else. Both products install with an excellent relational database example (Northwind Database) which is used as the foundation for the concept demonstrations. As the focus of this book is informational a not hands-on lesson driven, and as database design and query structures are universal and not vendor-specific, readers using other database providers will have no difficulty following along and will find the presentation of equal value. Conceptually, however, it would have been nice to utilize an open-source and free database system, and provide demonstration databases as a download.

Without a doubt, this is one of the best titles for learning database design and systems development. Concepts are clearly presented, easily understood and real-world applications demonstrated. Any person with an interest in databases can find value in this book and walk away with the ability to utilize the information gained.

Rating:
Summary: Database Systems Made Easy!
Review: Rebecca Riordan is one of the few authors that I trust so implicitly that I'll order any book she writes if the subject is even remotely of interest. She is able to explain complex, even daunting, subjects so clearly that they are easy to learn. And, as an added bonus, she has a witty, interesting style that ensures her readers are never bored even if the sujbect matter may be a bit on the dry side. If you have any interest in database systems, even if you have Riordan's previous book on the subject, this is a book you should not pass up.

Rating:
Summary: understanding modelling diagrams
Review: Relational databases have a well developed theory underpinning them. Often described in formal maths language that can be offputting to a newcomer without that background. The merit of Riordan's book is to show that you can often understand and design such databases, without recourse to such formalisms, which greatly expands the potential audience for the book.

There's scarcely an equation here. But you can understand the essence of different normal forms and what Boyce and Codd contributed to shoring up this field. Instead of equations, the author demonstrates what may be more intuitive to many of you - Modelling diagrams that show relationships in a visual form that is easy to grasp. You can see how a diagram can convey the essence of many relationships, and thus form the skeleton of a database. This visual understanding may be one of the most useful teaching results of the book.

Riordan uses Microsoft packages to demonstrate how to make example databases. Commendably, she writes broadly enough that you should be able to recast these examples in another database if you wish.