chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) (09/15/89)
Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things
from a general point of view (not too heavily slanted towards MIS
applications?) I'd like to know what the basic characteristics of
non-relational, relational, object-oriented, etc. are, and what types
of applications they're best suited for.
So far I've been through the tutorials in Oracle's SQL*Plus Users
Guide. So now I sort-of know how to program in SQL. But I need to step
back and get a more architectural view of how to set things up. I've
heard of something called an Entity-Relationship diagram, so I'd like
a reference that gives more background on things like that.
Thanks,
Chet.
--
Chet Wood ~ (408)727-3357
arc!chet@apple.COM . Advansoft Research Corporation
chet@arc.UUCP . 4301 Great America Parkway
apple!arc!chet . Santa Clara, CA 95054, USAUH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (09/17/89)
In article <CHET.89Sep14152210@sparcy.arc.UUCP>, chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) says: > >Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things >from a general point of view (not too heavily slanted towards MIS I think that the two textbooks by Mary Loomis might be what you want. Also try Kroenke and Dolan, or Pratt and Adamsky. It is hard to find a good reference on OODB, yet, at least I haven't seen one. Instead, see Brad Cox's or Betrand Meyers' books on object-oriented programming, in general I'm sorry I don't have the complete references here, but you'll be able to get that at your library, right? Try QA76.9. BTW--it is one thing to learn about Hierarchical, Network, Relational, and OODBMS in general, and quite another to actually understand any particular commercial product. lee
minohara@mt.cs.keio.junet (Tatsuo Minohara) (09/18/89)
In article <CHET.89Sep14152210@sparcy.arc.UUCP> chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) writes: >>Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things >>from a general point of view (not too heavily slanted towards MIS >>applications?) I'd like to know what the basic characteristics of >>non-relational, relational, object-oriented, etc. are, and what types >>of applications they're best suited for. I recommend the following books. title = "Principles of Database and Knowledge Base Systems Vol.1", author = "Ullman, J.D.", publisher = "Computer Science Press", year = 1988 title = "An Introduction to Database Systems 4th Edition Vol.1,Vol.2", author = "Date, C.J.", publisher = "Addison-Wesley", year = 1986 I suppose the Vol.2 of the 4th Edition is not available yet. Tatsuo Minohara Keio University, Japan. minohara@mt.cs.keio.ac.jp A Far Eastern Mac User.
dberg@cod.NOSC.MIL (David I. Berg) (09/18/89)
In article <CHET.89Sep14152210@sparcy.arc.UUCP>, chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) writes: > > Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things > from a general point of view? I highly recommend "Data Models" by Tsichritzis & Lovchovsky, Prentice Hall, 1982. -- David I. Berg (dberg@nosc.mil) GENISYS Information Systems, Inc., 4250 Pacific Hwy #118, San Diego, CA 92110 MILNET: dberg@nosc.mil UUCP: {akgua decvax dcdwest ucbvax}!sdcsvax!noscvax!dberg
piet@cs.ruu.nl (Piet van Oostrum) (09/19/89)
In article <CHET.89Sep14152210@sparcy.arc.UUCP>, chet@arc (Chet Wood) writes:
`
`Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things
`from a general point of view (not too heavily slanted towards MIS
`applications?) I'd like to know what the basic characteristics of
`non-relational, relational, object-oriented, etc. are, and what types
`of applications they're best suited for.
`
`So far I've been through the tutorials in Oracle's SQL*Plus Users
`Guide. So now I sort-of know how to program in SQL. But I need to step
`back and get a more architectural view of how to set things up. I've
`heard of something called an Entity-Relationship diagram, so I'd like
`a reference that gives more background on things like that.
`
There is a new book by Elmasri & Navathe published by Addison-Wesley. Its
starts from an Entity-Relationship approach. They promised me a
complimentary copy, but I haven't seen it yet. The table of contents looked
very promising.
--
Piet van Oostrum, Dept of Computer Science, University of Utrecht
Padualaan 14, P.O. Box 80.089, 3508 TB Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Telephone: +31-30-531806 Internet: piet@cs.ruu.nl
Telefax: +31-30-513791 Uucp: uunet!mcvax!hp4nl!ruuinf!pietUH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) (09/20/89)
On the topic of good intro books, be aware that there are at least three distinct *types* of book. 1. The Computer Science book (e.g. Ullman). The book you want to read if you plan to build a new database system, that is, you want to compete against Oracle, Unify, DB2, etc. 2. The Information Systems book (e.g. Kroenke and Dolan, Loomis, Pratt and Adamsky). The book to read if you plan to implement a database application using a commercial DBMS such as Oracle, Unify, DB2, etc. 3. Trade books. Most of the books you can buy at a bookstore in the Mall. These boooks tend to focus too narrowly on DBase, Paradox, and RBase, and usually give very bad general advice about how to build a quality database application. These books can be useful supplements to the vendor manual, however.
chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) (09/21/89)
lee> On the topic of good intro books, be aware that there are at
lee> least three distinct *types* of book.
lee> 1. The Computer Science book (e.g. Ullman). [...]
lee> 2. The Information Systems book. [...]
lee> 3. Trade books. [...]
I think I fall between the cracks here. My application for a database
has nothing to do with information systems. The usual examples given
in database book of a company database for "employee name, salary,
etc." leave me wondering how to relate those examples to what we're
trying to do.
The data to be stored is hard to predict right now and its type and
format will be determined by many interrelated applications.
It could be that this is what's been referred to as a CAx system
in this newsgroup. Where can I find out more about what these systems'
requirements are and how they are being met?
Thanks.
--
Chet Wood ~ (408)727-3357
arc!chet@apple.COM . Advansoft Research Corporation
chet@arc.UUCP . 4301 Great America Parkway
apple!arc!chet . Santa Clara, CA 95054, USAtim@binky.sybase.com (Tim Wood) (09/21/89)
In article <89262.133555UH2@PSUVM.BITNET> UH2@PSUVM.BITNET (Lee Sailer) writes: >On the topic of good intro books, be aware that there are at least three >distinct *types* of book. > >1. The Computer Science book (e.g. Ullman). The book you want to read if >you plan to build a new database system, that is, you want to compete against >Oracle, Unify, DB2, etc. > If you plan to build a new database system to compete against the above companies plus Sybase, RTI, Interbase, Informix, etc. etc. you'll need more than the book. You'll need about $100 million, minimum. You'll also need several dozen person-years of expertise, which you won't gain by reading the book. Because confusion over a plethora of choices and sharpening competition, this industry is moving toward fewer players, not more. The best strategy is to become an expert user; there will be lots of demand for people who know how to build applications for high-powered RDBMSs. Studying books is a great place to start for this. It helps give one the theoretical grounding needed to design applications in a data- and database-independent way. -TW Sybase, Inc. / 6475 Christie Ave. / Emeryville, CA / 94608 415-596-3500 tim@sybase.com {pacbell,pyramid,sun,{uunet,ucbvax}!mtxinu}!sybase!tim Voluntary disclaimer: This message is solely my personal opinion. It is not a representation of Sybase, Inc. OK.