[Gllug] Introductions to Databases

[Peter Corlett]

On Tue, Jul 14, 2009 at 04:08:57PM +0100, Richard Huxton wrote:
[...]
> Also worth either borrowing from your library, or getting second-hand is:
> "An Introduction to Database Systems" - C.J. Date
> It's probably the standard academic introduction to relational database
> theory.

I did contemplate suggesting that book, but decided not to as I figured it
was trolling :)

Often just referred to as "Date", the 1,024-page tome is very heavy on the
theory and probably not suitable for somebody who just wants to get a
practical knowledge of databases. I don't believe it teaches SQL, for
example.

Unfortunately, I don't know what book I *would* recommend as an
introduction. I picked up the important basics about correct normalisation
and indexes from ORA's "MySQL and mSQL" which is long out of print, although
presumably the material remains in the current MySQL book. The rest of the
required knowledge comes from bitter experience of lost and corrupt data and
learning how to mitigate this.

-- 
Gllug mailing list  -  Gllug at gllug.org.uk
http://lists.gllug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/gllug