bm@bike2work.Eng.Sun.COM (Bill Michel) (10/11/90)
howdy folks, this is what I've gotten off the net so far, with reference to good Database books ... Bill ---------------------------- No doubt about it. C.J. Date, "An Itroduction to Database Systems Vol. I (4th ed.)", Addison-Wesley, 1986. Date is a little weak on data modeling, however, excellent treatment of relational algebra, tuple calculus, normalization, and every other basic database question (query optimization, SQL, recovery, distributed databases, etc). This is not an end-user book but an introduction for computer scientists. -- Gordon (...!uunet!meaddata!gordon) From: gordon@meaddata.com (Gordon Edwards) In comp.databases you write: >I'm looking for a good introductory text on database. Please send your >suggestions to me via e-mail. Someone recommended Jeffrey Ullman's text, something like "Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems" in 2 volumes. Sorry, I don't have a copy of it (yet). I respect the opinion of the person who made the recommendation, but I haven't seen the latest edition of the Ullman text yet. From: Robert Kelley <rjk@sequent.com> A good book that is gaining popularity in many schools both as an intoductory text book and advanced level is : Fundamentals of Database Systems By R. Elmasri and S.B. Navathe Publ: Benjamin/Cummings, priced $42 (when I bought it in Spring '89) Best wishes, --Sunil -- | Sunil K. Murthy, | e-mail : sunil@beach.cis.ufl.edu | E 470 CSE | snail-mail : 273-11 Schucht Village | University of Florida | Gainesville FL 32603 | Gainesville FL 32611 | tring..tring.... (904) 334 5629 |---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | I'm an MSCS grad. looking for an RDBMS/C/UNIX job. Any pointers would be | appreciated. Thanks.... |--------------------------------------------------------------------------- The best one I have found in recent times is the latest edition of C.J. Date's book. Dont know the title exactly, but it is the 5th edition. Maybe :"Introduction to Databases" ? It saves Semantic modeling (E/R diagrams etc.) for later on when the students can really understand the concepts of top-down design, and starts off almost immediately with examples from Relational D/bases. It gets the student started off on tangible things rather than, what is still esoterica to them at that stage. Ullman's book, the old classic, is not recommended for that very reason. I teach a course on databases using Date's book, and have found it extremely thorough. srini@ultra.com It depends on what you want to do. If you are completely unfamiliar with databases, and want some practical information, then I wouldn't suggest any textbook. Get your hands on a RDBMS package, read the manuals, and maybe develop a couple of simple applications. You will learn more about databases this way than you ever could with a textbook. Once you're over the initial hurdle, you can dive into theory textbooks like C.J. Date's "Introduction to Database Systems." =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Randall Rhea Informix Software, Inc. Senior Programmer/Analyst, MIS uunet!pyramid!infmx!randall I'd recommend Korth and Silberschatz, Database_System_Concepts, McGraw-Hill. I've had good results teaching with it. At Stanford, the textbook is Ullman's Principles of Knowledge-Bases and Databases, Vol I, but I use examples out of Korth and Silberschatz. Arthur