Mike Hernandez's common-sense guide to database design: the fastest way to start solving real problems, and build foundational knowledge to go even further
Discusses how databases have become ubiquitous and of high importance in current technological landscape
Contains updated figures and references and new ancillaries for instructors
Database Design For Mere Mortals Epub Download
The #1 Easy, Commonsense Guide to Database DesignNow UpdatedForeword by Michelle Poolet, Mount Vernon Data Systems LLCDatabase Design for Mere Mortals has earned worldwide respect as the simplest way to learn relational database design. Now, this hands-on, software independent tutorial is even clearer and easier to use.Step by step, this new 25th Anniversary Edition shows you how to design modern databases that are soundly structured, reliable, and flexible, even in the latest online applications. Michael Hernandez guides you through everything from planning to defining tables, fields, keys, table relationships, business rules, and views. You will learn practical ways to improve data integrity, how to avoid common mistakes, and when to break the rules. Updated review questions and figures help you learn these techniques more easily and effectively.Understand database types, models, and design terminology
Perform interviews to efficiently capture requirementseven if everyone works remotely
Set clear design objectives and transform them into effective designs
Analyze a current database so you can identify ways to improve it
Establish table structures and relationships, assign primary keys, set field specifications, and set up views
Ensure the correct level of data integrity for each database
Identify and establish business rules
Preview and prepare for the future of relational databases
Whatever relational database systems you use, Hernandez will help you design databases that are robust and trustworthy. Never designed a database before? Settling for inadequate generic designs? Running existing databases that need improvement? Start here.
6 For my wife, who has always believed in me and continues to do so. To those who have helped me along my journey teachers, mentors, friends, and colleagues. Dedicated to anyone who has unsuccessfully attempted to design a relational database.
8 About the Author Michael J. Hernandez has been an independent relational database consultant specializing in relational database design. He has more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry, developing database applications for a broad range of clients. He s been a contributing author to a wide variety of magazine columns, white papers, books, and periodicals, and is coauthor of the best-selling SQL Queries for Mere Mortals (Addison-Wesley, 2007). Mike has been a top-rated and noted technical trainer for the government, the military, the private sector, and companies throughout the United States. He has spoken at numerous national and international conferences, and has consistently been a top-rated speaker and presenter. Aside from his technical background, Mike has a diverse set of skills and interests that he also pursues, ranging from the artistic to the metaphysical. His greatest interest is still the guitar, as he s been a practicing guitarist for more than forty years and played professionally for fifteen years. He is a great cook, loves to teach (writing, public speaking, music), has a gift for bad puns, and even reads tarot cards. He says he s never going to retire, per se, but rather just change whatever it is he s doing whenever he finally gets tired of it and move on to something else that interests him. vii
22 Foreword To the Third Edition Here it is, ten years later, and Mike and I cross paths even less than we used to. For those who were unaware, we share the same birthday (although he s much older than me, at least one full year), and we meet up at least once each year and congratulate ourselves for making it another year. It s also funny how Microsoft reboots its technology every ten years or so, and now, revisiting the foreword I wrote ten years ago, nothing much has changed I m still hip-deep in a new Microsoft technology, but this time it s all about WinRT and Windows 8, rather than.net. One thing that hasn t changed, however, is the need for carefully planned and executed database design. Nothing Mike wrote in his original volume has changed very much, and although this new edition modifies some details, the basics of good database design haven t changed in the ensuing ten years. I must confess a little jealousy that Mike has written a book with such enduring shelf life, but, if he s going to have a book that succeeds for this many years, at least it s a good one. Whether this is your first visit to Mike s detailed explanation of database design, or your second or third, be assured that you ll find a carefully considered, helpful path through the vagaries of database design here. But let s get past the intro, and get to work! Ken Getz, November 14, 2012 From the Second Edition... I don t see Mike Hernandez as much as I used to. Both our professional lives have changed a great deal since I first wrote the foreword to his original edition. If nothing else, we travel less, and our paths cross less often than they did. If you ll indulge me, I might try to add that the entire world has changed since that first edition. On the most xxi
23 xxii Foreword mundane level, my whole development life has changed, since I ve bought into this Microsoft.NET thing whole-heartedly and full-time. One thing that hasn t changed, however, is the constant need for data, and well-designed data. Slapping together sophisticated applications with poorly designed data will hurt you just as much now as when Mike wrote his first edition perhaps even more. Whether you re just getting started developing with data, or are a seasoned pro; whether you ve read Mike s previous book, or this is your first time; whether you re happier letting someone else design your data, or you love doing it yourself this is the book for you. Mike s ability to explain these concepts in a way that s not only clear, but fun, continues to amaze me. Ken Getz, October 10, 2002 From the First Edition... Perhaps you re wondering why the world needs another book on database design. When Mike Hernandez first discussed this book with me, I wondered. But the fact is as you may have discovered from leafing through pages before landing here in the foreword the world does need a book like this one. You can certainly find many books detailing the theories and concepts behind the science of database design, but you won t find many (if any) written from Mike s particular perspective. He has made it his goal to provide a book that is clearly based on the sturdy principles of mathematical study, but has geared it toward practical use instead of theoretical possibilities. No matter what specific database package you re using, the concepts in this book will make sense and will apply to your database-design projects. I knew this was the book for me when I turned to the beginning of Chapter 6 and saw this suggestion: Do not adopt the current database structure as the basis for the new database structure.
24 Foreword xxiii If I d had someone tell me this when I was starting out on this database developer path years ago I could have saved a ton of time! And that s my point here: Mike has spent many years designing databases for clients; he has spent lots of time thinking, reading, and studying about the right way to create database applications; and he has put it all here, on paper, for the rest of us. This book is full of the right stuff, illustrated with easy-to-understand examples. That s not to say that it doesn t contain the hardcore information you need to do databases right it does, of course. But it s geared toward real developers, not theoreticians. I ve spent some time talking with Mike about database design. Over coffee, in meetings, writing courseware, it s always the same: Mike is passionate about this material. Just as the operating system designer seeks the perfect, elegant algorithm, Mike spends his time looking for just the right way to solve a design puzzle and as you will read in this book how best to explain it to others. I ve learned much of what I know about database design from Mike over the years and feel sure that I have a lot more to learn from this book. After reading through this concise, detailed presentation of the information you need to know in order to create professional databases, I m sure you ll feel the same way. Ken Getz, MCW Technologies (KenG@mcwtech.com)
26 Preface Life, as the most ancient of all metaphors insists, is a journey... JONATHAN RABAN, FOR LOVE AND MONEY Paths may change and the course may need adjustment, but the journey continues... MICHAEL J. HERNANDEZ DATABASE DESIGN FOR MERE MORTALS, S ECOND EDTION To say that the technology field, and database management in particular, has changed significantly in the nine years since the second edition of this book was published would be an understatement, to be sure. Small, handheld devices containing storage capacity and processing power that once would have required several room-sized mainframe computers are now so ubiquitous that many people take them for granted, especially the more recent generations. (My young nephew would likely never understand the excitement I experienced when I purchased my first 40MB storage expansion card for my IBM PC. But that s another story.) Database management systems can now handle terabytes of data, and there s recently been a considerable amount of emphasis on storing, managing, and accessing data in the cloud. Is there still a need, then, for a book such as the one you hold in your hands? Absolutely! Regardless of how complex or complicated database management becomes, there will always be a need for a book on the basics of database design. You must learn the fundamentals in order to know how and why things work the way they do. This is true of many other areas of expertise, whether they are technical disciplines such as architectural design and engineering or artistic disciplines such as music and cooking. xxv 2ff7e9595c
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