Relational database systems. A practical introduction

MaRDI QIDQ4380368zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Peter Kleinschmidt, C. Rank

Publication date 15 March 1998

zbMATH Keywords

PL/SQL relational database systems

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Introductory exposition (textbooks, tutorial papers, etc.) pertaining to computer science (68-01) Theory of data (68P99)

Review text

Relationale Datenbanksysteme -- Eine praktische Einführung (relational database systems -- a practical introduction) is yet another book on relational databases, the industry standard in the database area these days. The book emerged from lectures repeatedly given to students in the business department of the University of Passau (and hence competes with another database book by an author from that university, of which the authors of the present book are not even aware of the latest edition!). With this target audience, the book introduces a number of standard database concepts and techniques, including the Entity-Relationship model and its use in designing a relational database, normal forms for database relations, SQL queries and updates, and the transaction concept. A major portion of the book is dedicated to the Oracle database system and its language PL/SQL as well as its forms-based user interfaces. Many concepts are introduced very superficially and without any depth. This may be appropriate for the type of students mentioned above, since for this audience it may be perfectly sufficient to get an idea of the database approach as well as a brief overview of the field. However, it is always a pity if even an overview misses the opportunity to set pointers to additional sources a reader who wants to get deeper into the subject could consult. Indeed, the few references given on page 157 of this book mostly concentrate on Oracle, and are neither current nor representative of the field. A good idea, on the other hand, is the inclusion of many exercises and their solutions, which may enable business students to get a certain grasp of the material even on their own.

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