Database Magic with Ken North, 1st edition
Authors: Ken North
Venue:  (1998)

From the Book:PREFACE: Development strategies continue to evolve away from monolithic architectures to software built with components. Today's database developer faces issues of performance and scalability that are putting a premium on partitioning applications and distributing logic across clients and servers. Component technologies and distributed computing are gaining mindshare, but the role of the database is not diminished. Active databases can store logic and enforce rules in order to maintain data integrity. The active database model has been used successfully for mainframe, PC, and client-server computing, and we can expect it to be successful with future computing paradigms. There is a cornucopia of software solutions for developers who build databases and write database programs. Many of these solutions provide component-based development and are capable of crafting client-side or server-side software. Database developer tools typically recognize the power of modern databases and enable developers to exploit the database as an enforcer of data integrity. Because that is likely to be true in the future, it is to your advantage to understand how to use database technology when building future generations of software. This book focuses on the capabilities of active databases and SQL DBMS products. It discusses distributed processing techniques that rely on programmable servers and logic in the database. Before delving into details about using SQL, multidatabase APIs, and specific DBMS products, this book explores conceptual and logical data modeling. To get you started in an exploration of servers from Informix, Sybase, Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft, the PrenticeHallftp site includes SQL scripts for each of the servers discussed here. The site also includes example programs and a data model for generating databases to use with the examples. Who Should Read This Book? Read this book if you: Are putting databases on the Web or your organization's intranet or extranet Are interested in client-server and multitier applications using SQL databases Want to understand active databases and the database as a rules enforcer Are interested in server programming and logic in the database Want to learn more about data modeling for creating robust databases Require more information about standards-based and component-based data access Need solutions for making databases available to browsers and online users Want to learn more about extending servers used by SQL and object-relational DBMS * Note: Throughout this book, I assume you have some experience with software and databases. This book is not a primer that teaches the fundamentals of programming. How This Book is Organized This book starts with an introductory chapter. The following chapter explains data modeling and develops an example database used by subsequent chapters of the book. Following the discussion of data modeling, there are chapters that explore database application architecture and active database technology. Next, there are chapters that explore database development for specific database management systems (DBMS) from Sybase, Informix, Oracle, Microsoft, and IBM. After the chapters about database servers, there are chapters that explain multidatabase programming techniques and standard programming interfaces (ODBC and JDBC). The concluding chapters explain interoperable SQL and programming with components (OLE DB). This book includes appendixes that provide vendor information about ODBC drivers, JDBC drivers, and OLE DB providers. Appendix D is a glossary of terms. The book concludes with an index. Conventions Used in This Book SQL keywords, and the text of programs and scripts, are printed in a code font. Note: This is used for emphasis and providing supplemental information. Tip: This is used to highlight tips. Acknowledgments The production of this book involved the cooperation of a number of individuals. My gratitude and best wishes go out to the many persons who assisted me in the completion of this book. Mark Taub and Ralph Moore were instrumental in the development of this book. Kyle Geiger was a major player in the development of standards and software technologies discussed in this book, and he generously provided a technical review. Many thanks also to technical reviewers Joe Celko and David Linthicum. The ACM Portal is published by the Association for Computing Machinery. Copyright © 2010 ACM, Inc. Terms of Usage Privacy Policy Code of Ethics Contact Us Useful downloads: Adobe Acrobat QuickTime Windows Media Player Real Player