Database Design

by Adrienne Watt, Nelson Eng (Contributor)

Database Design - 2nd Edition covers database systems and database design concepts. New to this edition are SQL info, additional examples, key terms and review exercises at the end of each chapter.

ebook

Published October 24, 2014

Reviews

[Wendelle]

this book is simply a cull of database definitions

[Scott Palmer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written. Reads like the end-of semester outline or flashcards of someone who has studied *another* textbook with clearer explanations and examples and just needs a reminder of the concepts they've already learned. Sadly, that's not me. This is the main assigned text for an introductory course in databases at my local community college, and I'm convinced it was chosen over other textbooks simply because it's free. This book apparently does not benefit from an educational publisher's or editor's input, so concepts that should be better explained are handled very abruptly.

An example: on page 25, in the first paragraph of a section entitled "Fundamental Concepts in the Relational Data Model," a "Relation" is defined as "a subset of the Cartesian product of a list of domains characterized by a name." Wut?

It continues, "[t]he steps below outline the logic between a relation and its domains. 1. Given n domains are denoted by D1, D2..." to which I angrily scribbled in the margin, "WTF IS A DOMAIN?" only to be treated to the book's first mention of what a Domain is some pages later. Sure I guess I have time to read twice. >:(

I'm only 7 chapters in, but this already registers as the most unsatisfactory text I've ever had to read over the course of 3 degree programs.

[Blue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am in a class that uses this book, two others, and powerpoints from Oracle. This is more a criticism of the class than the book, but it is a LOT of information about databases and terminology without any lead-up or usable information to which the terms can be anchored.

On second thought, as the largest of the three books and the one with the terms neatly boxed at the end of chapters to save me in the online quizzes I will give this one 2 stars, but I would not recommend this to someone who wants to play with databases. It might be good as a primer for studying form and vocabulary for a certification, however, for someone with pre-existing knowledge of databases.

[Henrik · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book did seem, overall, a bit sloppily written. And it does require some à priori knowledge of SQL databases to read this book (which I luckily had).

[محمد مرتجی · Rating 1 out of 5]

For UoPeople students:
don't waste your time on this book. Find other resources on the internet.

[Tareef Mando · Rating 2 out of 5]

واحد من أصل أربعة كتب مقررة لكورس قواعد البيانات CS 2203
أشبه بسلسلة مقالات خفيفة ومقتضبة

[Ileana Enid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Easy to read and follow with practice section at the end of each chapter. Well done. ~ A student.