All of today’s mainstream database products
support the SQL language, and relational theory is what
SQL is supposed to be based on. But are those products
truly relational? Sadly, the answer is no. This book
shows you what a real relational product would be like,
and how and why it would be so much better than what’s
currently available.
With this unique book, you
will:
- Learn how to see database systems as programming
systems
- Get a careful, precise, and detailed definition of
the relational model
- Explore a detailed analysis of SQL from a
relational point of view
There are
literally hundreds of books on relational theory or the
SQL language or both. But this one is different. First,
nobody is more qualified than Chris Date to write such a
book. He and Ted Codd, inventor of the relational model,
were colleagues for many years, and Chris’s involvement
with the technology goes back to the time of Codd’s
first papers in 1969 and 1970. Second, most books try to
use SQL as a vehicle for teaching relational theory, but
this book deliberately takes the opposite approach. Its
primary aim is to teach relational theory as such. Then
it uses that theory as a vehicle for teaching SQL,
showing in particular how that theory can help with the
practical problem of using SQL correctly and
productively.
Any computer professional who wants to
understand what relational systems are all about can
benefit from this book. No prior knowledge of databases
is assumed.
