From: cimo@cs.montana.edu (Bob Cimikowski)
Subject: Database textbook
Organization: CS
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 17:11:03 GMT


Here's a summary of responses I've received to my solicitation for
recommendations for a graduate-level database textbook:


My original post:

>I am looking for a good textbook to use for a graduate database course.
>I would like to cover relational theory, normalization, and distributed
>databases, at the very least, and perhaps object-oriented, logic-based,
>and semantic models as well.  I would prefer to have all of this in a
>single book and would like to avoid using papers or books that are
>compilations of papers.

>Can anyone recommend a good text?

---------------
We just started using a book by Tamil Ozsu (I forget the title, but I've
got it somewhere). I haven't had a chance to look through it closely, but
it at least addresses most of the issues in your wish list.

I'd be interested in what you choose as it might be a useful supplement
for me.

Hope this helps. 

--------------------
Sorry I didn't have this yesterday, I was in a rush when I answered your
query.

Title: Prinicples of Distributed Database Systems
Author: Ozsu / Valduriez
Publisher: Prentice-Hall

Their 800 number for evaluation copies is: 1-800-526-0485.

As I said before, I'd be interested in your final decision.


---------------------
I'm not sure about the distributed aspect, but the following cover
the rest.

@book
{ Ullman88
, author=    {Jeffrey D. Ullman}
, title=     {Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems}
, publisher= {Computer Science Press}
, year=      {1988}
, volume=    {1}
}

@book
{ Ullman89
, author=    {Jeffrey D. Ullman}
, title=     {Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems}
, publisher= {Computer Science Press}
, year=      {1989}
, volume=    {2}
}

Ullman's particular area is logic/deductive databases, so after laying
the groundwork in the first book (relational theory ... etc.), the
second book is devoted mainly to the logical view of a database.  I
think both books are excellent and everyone interested in databases
should read them, but they may fall outside your exact requirements.



-----------------------


I recommend the text by Date, "An Introduction to Database Systems," Vol. 1,
5th edition.

------------------------

I do recommend 'Database System Concepts'(SECOND EDITON)(ISBN 0-07-044754-3) 
by Henry F. Korth and Abraham Sibershatz.
We used this book not for graduates but for juniors of computer
science department in Osaka University, Japan.
Hope this helps.
---


I am currently using "Database System Concepts" by Henry F. Korth
and Abraham Silberschatz. It covers all of the subjects you mention.
I have found it to be OK. I would like it to be more mathematically
complete in its presentation, but this is not a major problem.


----------------------

I have been facing a similar problem recently. There are several
books I have considered. I will say a few words of each,
everything, of course, my own opinion. As a conclusion, none
of these books seemed to be alone sufficient for my course.

I also considered some books not mentioned here, but since I
do not have them here at hand, and I can not really remember
anymore how they related to these books, 
I won't say anything about them here.

C.J. Date, An Introduction to Database Systems, Vol 1.
 (the copy I have in my hands is from 1986, 4th edition)

- somebody else recommended this, but for a graduate level course
  I would believe that the text is much too introductory
- does not cover the theory much (if at all), in my opinion
- works more on the example and intuition level

B.C. Desai, An Introduction to Database Systems
  (1990)

- has some theory
- seems to be quite readable
- seems to cover your list of subjects fairly well
- was quite cheap hear in Finland, perhaps also in the US ?
- is still somewhat introductory, especially when compared to
  Maier's or perhaps Ullman's books

Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems

- has some theory
- seems to be quite readable
- also covers a wide list of topics
- is still somewhat introductory, especially when compared to
  Maier's or perhaps Ullman's books

Ullman, Principles of Database and Knowledge-Base Systems, Vols I and II

- more theory-oriented than the previous ones
- strong emphasis on knowledge-base systems, especially in Vol II
- Vol I covers the necessities for a basic course reasonably
- Vol II is a 'query processing volume', and query processing 
  issues are not much covered by Vol I (so if you only want one volume...)
- some people seem to like Ullman's style quite a lot, and some
  not so much

Maier, The Theory of Relational Databases

- a theory book, as the name says
- covers lots of the theory, also advanced issues
- restricted to the relational model
- probably not such a good self-study book
- has its own share of misprints


--------------------

I think the best book I've ever seen is:
'An Introduction to Database Systems' (5th edition) by Chris Date.
Addison-Wesley.

-----------------

Possibly the worst book and the one to surely avoid is "Database Management"
by McFadden and Hoffer and published by Benjamin Cummins.  It is  full
of misprints and repetitions and poorly organised; very tedious to use,


-------------------

In response to my later posting about the book "Conceptual Database Design: An
Entity-Relationship Approach,"  Batini, Ceri, and Navathe (Benjamin Cimmings,
1992), I received the following reply:


I have not used it in teaching, but I have seen it. 
It just does not meet your initial requirements, 
since it is not a general database textbook. 
The book by Batini, Ceri and Navathe concentrates
solely in the database design (as also the title suggests),
and, as far as I can remember, you required that
the book should cover also various other aspects.

For the book, I would say that it is more practice than
theory oriented, and I would imagine that the book 
is a good choice for anybody seeking a practical book
about conceptual database design.


---------------------------

Thanks to all who replied.  I am leaning towards the Batini, Ceri, Navathe text.
Although it doesn't cover most of the topics I initially listed, it reads quite
well, and I can easily change the course objective to database design rather
than a survey of advanced topics.

Bob

Newsgroups: comp.databases.theory