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Message from Dean - May 8th 2007
I am currently testing out a new version of the APF Bridge Component - If you notice any errors within this demo store please drop me a line.
List Price: $49.99Amazon.com's Price: $39.99 You Save: $10.00 (20%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9781590597453
ISBN: 1590597451
Label: Apress
Manufacturer: Apress
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 376
Publication Date: June 21, 2007
Publisher: Apress
Studio: Apress
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Relational databases hold data, right? They indeed do, but to think of a database as nothing more than a container for data is to miss out on the profound power that underlies relational technology. A far more powerful way of thinking lies in relational technologys foundation in the mathematical disciplines of logic and set theory.
Databases contain truths or propositions describing some area of interest such as a business. Those truths are organized into sets. Operations from logic and set theory can be applied to existing sets of truths to derive new sets of truths. Applied Mathematics for Database Professionals introduces you to this way of thinking, to the logic and set theory that underlies relational database technology. All this may sound abstract now, but there are profound benefits from the deeper understanding youll gain from this book. Youll learn to
- Become a better database designer. Youll make fewer mistakes, and your designs will be more flexible in response to changing data needs.
- Use the expressive power of mathematics to precisely specify designs and business rules.
- Communicate effectively about design using the universal language of mathematics.
- Develop and write complex SQL statements with confidence.
- Avoid pitfalls and problems from common relational bugaboos such as null values and duplicate rows.
The math that you learn in this book will put you above the level of understanding of most database professionals today. Youll better understand the technology and be able to apply it more effectively. Youll avoid data anomalies like redundancy and inconsistency. Understanding whats in this book will take your mastery of relational technology to heights you may not have thought possible.
This book is reviewed and endorsed by C. J. Date and features a foreword by the same.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This book is no easy read. Yet, or even because of this fact, it is unrestrictedly recommendable for everyone who professionally deals with databases. It offers a thorough introduction into the basic mathematics on which the relational database model is based. The committed reader is put into the position to base his database design on a well founded level and effectively describe and communicate design questions and business rules.
In any case should the reader take his time to work his way through the whole book. It is well worth it!
Rating: -
This book definitely isn't for those who dabble in writing SQL code. However, if your job requires interacting with SQL, that is, set-based language, this book should be on your shelf. It certainly is on mine.
You won't find any simple list of instructions, or pithy "best practices", but more a fairly complete explanation of set-based mathematics and logic, and how this applies to the SQL (generic SQL) language. There's also an excellent discussion of 3 and 4 state logic and the universally misunderstood concept of NULL.
I can't recommend the book enough. It may take you years to really work through it and absorb the content, but it is worth it if databases are your career.
Rating: -
This book from Lex de Haan (RIP) and Toon Koppelaars is a very welcome addition to those relatively few technical volumes to date that attempt to apply the rigours of a sound theoretical mathematical framework to the Relational Model, and the varied and various manifestations thereof.
This well written and well structured book takes the reader gently through rudimentary relations and sets in Part I, to the more complex database-related aspects in Part II, and finally culminating in Part III where the theoretical is applied to the practical - in this case through Oracle, but will equally apply to any of the major Database Management System (DBMS) vendors.
Although the reader is taken `gently' through the learning process, I believe that any experience in Formal System Specification would be a great help to the reader, similarly with any degree of knowledge of relations and sets. With no knowledge of either of these then the curve may not be so `gentle', but what ... Read More
Rating: -
Finally, a book has come along that is not a simple restating of the manual. This is not a book that will tell you how to install a database or how to write RMAN scripts.
This book deconstructs all of what it is to be a database. This book is like a vivsection on the "brain" of an RDBMS (specifically, but not exclusively, Oracle).
Why this book succeeds is because it walks you, step-by-step, through the simple (yes simple) and well defined (yes, you don't really have to guess) logic that the database uses for EVERY request made of it.
It is a must-have for anyone serious about truly understanding why databases work the way they do. Have you sat in any of those meetings where people guessed or even voted on how they thought the database worked? It's so silly.
This book will not help you get certified with any database. Certifications are vendor specific and cover a lot more than the narrow focus of this book. So you'll be disappointed ... Read More
Rating:  -
Writing a book is no easy task. Completing a book when your co-author and friend passes away early in the process, must be a monumental task, this is what Toon Koppelaars achieved with this work.
I ordered this book expecting it to contain examples of using statistics, probability and data mining algorithms as applied to databases. In retrospect, I am not sure why I made that assumption. It is actually about formally specifying database designs using logic and set theory. This book is reviewed and endorsed by C. J. Date and features a foreword by him, which would be high praise for any book on the subject of databases.
It is split into 3 parts and 12 chapters as follows:
1. Logic: Introduction
2. Set Theory: Introduction
3. Some More Logic
4. Relations and Functions
5. Tables and Database States
6. Tuple, Table, and Database Predicates
7. Specifying Database Designs
8. Specifying State Transition Constraints
9. ... Read More
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