Database Explorations

About the Book

A note from the authors: Dear Reader: "Database is boring." That sentiment is heard all too widely these days. But it's so wrong! The database field is full of important problems still to be solved and interesting issues still to be examined - and some of those problems and issues are explored in this book. Between us, we have nearly 80 years experience in this field, and we're still actively researching, exploring, and learning, as well as helping others do the same. The present book is the latest in a series devoted to these goals; using "The Third Manifesto" (a detailed proposal for the future of database technology) as a foundation, it reports on some of our most recent investigations in this field. Among many other things, it includes the most recent version of "The Third Manifesto" itself; specifications for a conforming language called Tutorial D; and a detailed proposal for a model of type inheritance. Other significant features include: - Extending the foreign key concept - Simplifying queries using image relations - Closer looks at logic and relational algebra - Suggested approaches to "missing information" - Responses to certain "Manifesto" criticisms - Clarifying aspects of normalization The tone of the book overall is naturally somewhat serious, but there are moments of light relief as well. We hope you enjoy it. C.J. Date and Hugh Darwen

About the Author

C.J. Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database technology (a field he helped pioneer). He is best known for his book "An Introduction to Database Systems" (8th edition, Addison-Wesley, 2004), which has sold over 825,000 copies at the time of writing and is used by several hundred colleges and universities worldwide. He is also the author of many other books on database management, including most recently "SQL and Relational Theory: How to Write Accurate SQL Code" (O'Reilly, 2009). He was inducted into the Computing Industry Hall of Fame in 2004. Hugh Darwen was employed in IBM's software development divisions from 1967 to 2004. In the early part of his career, he was involved in DBMS development; from 1978 to 1982,he was one of the chief architects of an IBM product called Business System 12, a product that faithfully embraced the principles of the relational model. He was an active participant in the development of the international standard for SQL (and related standards) from 1988 to 2004. Based in the U.K., he currently teaches relational database theory at Warwick University and is a tutor and course development consultant for the Open University