Database Concepts

by David J Auer, David M. Kroenke, Scott L. Vandenberg, et al.

Book Overview

For courses in database management. Hands-on exploration of database fundamentals Database Concepts offers students practical help creating and managing small databases, from two of the world's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0133544621
• ISBN13: 9780133544626
• Release Date: August 2014
• Publisher: Pearson
• Length: 509 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 8.5" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Database Concepts Book

The book is good with details and examples. I find the book quite easy to read and follow. However, I do not recommend this book for someone who does not have some background in database design and development.

Intense! But GREAT BOOK!

So where do I start? This book is only 7 Chapters and believe me it's intense. Especially for a person who has never messed with SQL before using this book. This book is used at my college to teach database analysis class, and the class is accelerated making this book much harder to grasp. Let me just say the first three chapters are great, and you should understand everything the way the book explains the material. But once you jump into Chapter 4-5 BAM INTENSE. But before I get into that let me just tell you my background that I GUARANTEE HELPED ME UNDERSTAND THIS. I've been programming in C++, Java and C# for 2 years now. Many of the material I learned helps me in 'small ways' understand the material. So if you have never had any kind of experience with programming just grasping this book will be intense. This book is not hard, the problem is the amount of material that is explained per chapter, and for you to move on to the next chapter you MUST understand the material from the previous chapter. Note that the material is explained clearly but the amount of it to grasp can be hard. However the book has plenty of exercises and review questions. The book also covers SQL, which is not hard to pick up if you have previous programming experience. This book is a must for any DBA/DBM and is also a great reference book. If you want to know how to properly make a database and how to properly construct everything (which is important for an enterprise) then this book is definitely for you. If you don't care about how your data looks, and performance then find something else. Also it should be noted this book is about 350 INTENSE PAGES with 7 chapters. Don't let that fool you into thinking this book is easy. The class I have taken is only 2 credit hours that uses this book and BOOM INTENSE!

This book fills a crucial gap

So you know how to use your database software, but do you know how to design a good database? I got lucky when I found this book. I'd been building a database myself after taking a class on MS Access at my local community college. MS Access is so easy to use that I was comfortable and confident. I'd built many related tables and built several queries, forms and reports. No problems. Everything was working fine. But with each element I added, I got less confident about the DESIGN of my ever-growing database. It was working fine, but were the tables and relationships optimal? As it grew more complex, was I going to make a mistake? Or find a fundamental flaw in my early assumptions? Classes and tutorials on database programs cover design concepts so briefly because they need to cover a lot of details about how to use the program. This book does the exact opposite. It glosses over how to use your software and focuses on design concepts. In the preface, the author says: "This book does not assume that any particular DBMS [database management system] product will be used [... so ...] all of the concepts are presented in a DBMS-agnostic manner. When learned this way, students come to understand that the fundamentals pertain to any database [...]" This is why it's shorter than some reviewers seem to think it should be. It isn't "too short." It's "focused." There are plenty of other books that cover the other stuff. This book is clear, concise and accessible. I'm glad it didn't go into more technical details. It focuses on database fundamentals, design and administration by explaining what each of the following concepts mean and why they're so important: the relational model, normalization, functional dependencies, data modeling, entity-relation model, client-server model, DBA, concurrency control, security, backup and recovery, and even a bit about SQL (the computer language behind your DBMS). You can skip the SQL chapter if you want. I did. Final word: This book is a quick read and easy to understand. It is a bit pricey, but if it fills a crucial gap in your knowledge, like it did for me, it's well worth the price.

Great introductory book, horrible price

This is by far the best introductory database book I have ever read or used. Pro It is written in very clear English. It covers the basics of database design very well. It is not overly technical. One of the best treatments of normalization I have ever seen. The exercises at the end of each chapter are well thought out. Con The book cost way too much ($60) for an introductory textbook. The use of the term "theme" was changed to "topic" in the 2nd edition. The editing was faulty and the book only defines topic but used both theme and topic. Not a big deal if you used the first edition and know they mean the same thing but it is confusing to students when the book uses the terms interchangably without defining theme. This is not a reference for database programmers. If you already understand ERD's and normalization don't buy this book it is meant to be an introduction to database basics not a shelf reference. I like that the does not cover a lot of history. If you want to know a lot about Codd and the evolution of the different normal forms this is not the book for you. If you want a good introduction to databases for a non-technical class this is the best book you will find in my opinion.

Don't buy book from CollegeBookDirect com!

The book was great. But CollegeBookReview gave me an used book when it said new. So don't buy books from 'em. Hope they go out of business!