chet@arc.UUCP (Chet Wood) (09/21/89)
chet> Can anyone recommend a basic text on databases that presents things
chet> from a general point of view (not too heavily slanted towards MIS
chet> applications?) I'd like to know what the basic characteristics of
chet> non-relational, relational, object-oriented, etc. are, and what types
chet> of applications they're best suited for.
:::::: Here is a tally of the recommendations I received:
# of recommendations, author, title
-----------------------------------
3 Elmasri & Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems
1 Korth & Silberschatz, Database Systems Principles
3 Date, An Introduction to Database Systems, 4th edition
2 Ullman, Principles of Database Systems
3 Ullman, Principles of Database and Knowledge Base Systems, Vol. 1
1 Gardarin and Valduriez, Relational Databases and Knowledge Bases
1 Tsichritzis & Lovchovsky, Data Models
1 Date, Selected Writings
1 Date, An Introduction to Database Systems, 3rd edition
1 Yao, ed. Principles of Database Design, Volume I: Logical
Organization.
1 Loomis, Mary. ??
1 Kroenke and Dolan. ??
1 Pratt and Adamsky. ??
1 Parsaye, Chignell, Khosthafian and Wong; "Intelligent Databases"
:::::::::: Here's the actual replies I got. Thanks to all the people
who sent suggestions. I hope they don't mind that I left out their
names in this summary, in the interest of readability.
------------------------------------------------
Try the new book by Gardarin and Valduriez from Addison-Wesley (can't remember
the title).
------------------------------------------------
There are several college textbooks that might help:
Elmasri & Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems
Korth & Silberschatz, Database Systems Principles
Date, ???, look for 4th edition
Ullman, Principles of Database Systems
Ullman, Principles of Data and Knowlegde Base Systems
I suggest you look for them (in this order) in your local
technical or college book store.
------------------------------------------------
Here is a book which covers the spectrum of issues in
database systems. It has emphasis towards conceptual modelling
ie entity-relationship, models etc.
Fundamentals of Database Systems
by ElMasri and Navathe
Benjamin Cummins Publishers 1989.
This is a very recent book and is comprehensive.
------------------------------------------------
Take a look at "An Introduction to Database Systems" by Chris Date.
------------------------------------------------
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.
------------------------------------------------
I highly recommend "Data Models" by Tsichritzis & Lovchovsky,
Prentice Hall, 1982.
------------------------------------------------
I can give you a list of books I have read. Some are good, some are not.
All require a lot of careful reading.
1. Principals of Database Systems, 2nd edition, Jeffery Ullman, Computer
Science Press, 1982, ISBN 0-914894-36-6
- Good basic text. Good theoritical introduction to RDB.
2. Principals of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems, Vol I, Jeffrey Ullman,
Computer Science Press, 1988, ISBN 0-88175-188-X
- Similar to above. Additional information, somewhat updated although
first book has all basic theory.
3. Relational Database: Selected Writings, C. J. Date, Addison-Wesley, 1986.
ISBN 0-201-14196-5
- Interesting writing on selected topics. Some controversial,
especially areas of NULL values, joins, view updates.
4. An Introduction to Database Systems, Third Edition, C. J. Date,
Addison-Wesley, 1982, ISBN 0-201-14471-9
- Most coverage of Hierarchical and Network database models.
5. Principles of Database Design, Volume I: Logical Organization,
S. Bing Yao, ed., Prentiss-Hall, 1985, ISBN 0-13-708876-0
- Each chapter by a different author. Chapters on ER modeling,
Semantic data models, relational theory, and others.
Hope these help.
------------------------------------------------
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.
------------------------------------------------
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.
[C. Wood note: I think he means Benjamin Cummins, publisher as
mentioned above.]
-------------------------------------------------
You might find the following reference of interest:
"Intelligent Databases", by
K.Parsaye, M.Chignell, S.Khosthafian and H.Wong.
Publishers: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
ISBN: 0-471-50346-0, or 0-471-50345-2 (paperback).
List price: US $24.95.
Hope this is of help.
_________________________________________________
Thanks again to all who made suggestions.
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, USA