Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

by Louis Davidson, Kevin E. Kline, Kurt Windisch, et al.

Book Overview

Louis Davidson's book on database design is a solid, five-star book on Amazon that is reviewed and endorsed by leading lights such as Adam Mechanic and James Luetkehoelter. The book is technically and theoretically sound, and is grounded in best-practices. The previous two editions have sold in excess of 5000 units. There is no better book on database design catering to the SQL Server professional.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 143020866X
• ISBN13: 9781430208662
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 680 Pages
• Weight: 2.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Great for non professional programmer

I have some experience in database and web desinging as a hobby. As a non professional programmer, I can say this book was a real help guide for me in understanding relational database in general and more specifically on SQL 2008. Going deep with their normalization view and indexes issues, they could help me in re-designing my database in a different way (better way as I beleive). I don't know about professional programmers or those who have academic degrees in computer or programming field; for me, it was a great reference for me to use whenever I need to build a new database. Good point was reflecting their experience in presenting the materials which give you the feeling that you really like the authors; especially Louise. Bad point from my side as a non professional programmer is some chapters were dificult. However, re-reading could solve this problem for me. I really like it. Not saying how much it was helpful to me... Buying so much books in the field of programming and we designing, I felt this is a real full-of-information book written by real experts.. I hope the author can publish supplementary matarial to go deeper in some other issues like more deep example especially those related to web desinging

Nice introductory book

This was the first book I got from SQL Server 2008. It's interesting how all the topics are presented because it takes you from very simple items like database fundamentals to way more complex ones like security and concurrency. The good thing about it is that it's easy. If you're starting with SQL Server 2008 then this is the book for you. It will even explain the Codd's Rules, amazing. The bad thing is that is not a book for experts. In any case, if you're an expert, you should be writing a book, not reading it.

Review of Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation

Good database design is extremely important if you want to have a database that performs well and is easily modifiable. How many times did you have to go back and change countless lines of code because your database was not normalized and it was not easy to add another payment type to the existing database? This is where Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation comes in; in the first couple of chapters you are taught how to design a database in a normal form. Most books that deal with database design are dry and boring; you need to read a chapter several times to digest the information leaving you with a headache. Not this book, Pro SQL Server 2008 Relational Database Design and Implementation makes this almost fun, the author goes through the phases of database design in a fun way which is understandable to the common man After the design is done and you have your database you will be shown how you can protect the integrity of your data. Remember nothing in the database is as important as to make sure the data is correct, if you have bad data then you might as well have no data at all. This book will show you how to protect the integrity of your data by using constraints and triggers There is a whole chapter of some good tips and tricks, patterns and query techniques. I think that you will find out you can solve a whole lot of business problems with a numbers table much faster than if you had to do it without Security is a big topic these days, look on the internet, ever week you here horror stories how some data was stolen or otherwise compromised. Fear not there one whole chapter about securing access to your valuable data Table structure and indexing is also covered, how are tables stored internally, the differences between clustered and non clustered indexes. These are very important concepts to understand; there are plenty of stories of people who designed a database and it worked flawless when they tested it. Once they loaded it up with real data in the real world it became painfully slow, by then they had to spend countless hours trying to refactor that mess. This book will prevent these kind of things Coding for concurrency is also covered. This is also a very important concept. Explained are the different isolation levels, the difference between optimistic and pessimistic locking and best practices Each chapter has a summary and a best practices chapter. This is very handy because you can quickly get an overview of the whole chapter in a page or two. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn or get better at designing databases. Having a bad database design is like building a house on a weak foundation; sooner or later you will pay for it and you will have to tear parts down to fix that faulty foundation. When it comes to database design and SQL Server I have no doubt in my mind that this is the book to get. This is the third version of the book I have read and I am pleased to see tha

Definitely worth the price of admission

I don't know what Patric's problem is (and how could I? He wasn't specific at all). This book is simply great from start to finish. I have been heavily involved in SQL Server 2008 since the very early betas, so felt pretty comfortable in my "new" knowledge, but I found lots of new information peppered throughout this book. And where Louis is not teaching me something new, he's explaining a concept in a different way, and I can turn around and use that when I try to explain the same concept to a colleague or client. No book is perfect, but this is definitely something quite opposite of a "waste of time."

One of the best books on the market, for a long time to come

As I thought with the 2005 version of this book, I find Louis' book extremely well written, extremely informative, and down to earth. You get the impression that you're just discussing things with the author. Another thing that I love is that Louis' actually presents a point of view rather than spitting out what's already in books online, or just online itself. Not just facts, guidance. We need more writing like this, and more authors like Louis.