Database: Principles Programming Performance

I used the first edition for a database course, and I borrowed the new edition to read a week ago (I just ordered the book today).I wish PBS would make their hardware shows more like this book. I like to watch them, but one thing bugs me: they show how you drive a screw every 4 ins to retain *this particular* panel, but they don't explain *why* that was necessary. So you don't know how to design the panel yourself, or how to figure out if the panel needs redesigning. This book is full of practical insights that help you analyze and tune a database, not just churn through SQL syntax.I think this book works best as a complement to your vendor's documentation. It takes you all the way from fundamentals to evaluating transactional benchmarks. The exercises at the end of each chapter teach you not just how to, say, add an index, but also how to evaluate the need for an index and the performance of existing indexes. (I'd suggest skipping the section on relational algebra unless you're approaching databases from a mathematical background.)The book contrasts the various database products when necessary, eg in the new object-relational section.If your database is suddenly running half as fast, or you told the customer the new hardware would speed up response and it didn't, this is the book you need. Better yet, buy it first.

We used this book in our graduate CS program. Great book for its value! Great overview of three commercial products: Oracle 7.3, Ingres, and Sybase. Outstanding chapter on SQL where the author explains the differences between the three vendors and the difference between the SQL X/OPEN and SQL 92. I also liked the Database Design chapters where the author carefully explains the idea of the Functional Dependencies and the concepts of E-R and the Normalization. Good references for further reading in Databases. I think this is the corner-stone book in the Morgan Kaufmann DBMS series.

Very well thought out. A delight to read given the subject matter. Some of his SQL tricks will inspire even the most advanced DBA to try new things. Covers the subject very well, from theory to practical application on several of the top database packages.