Database in depth
by C. J. Date · first published 2005
6mentions
4recommended by
6HN commenters
2010–2016first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
Why HN recommends it
A short introduction to the relational model for practitioners, covering relational theory, query and index design, and why SQL departs from the model, NULL included. Suits programmers who want to understand SQL's flaws.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…don't love SQL the language. Many programmers do love SQL. It's not a perfect solution, but it's better than most of the via alternatives. Anyone that "hates" SQL should be forced to read C.J. Date's Database in Depth, after which, if they still hate SQL, it will at least be for the right reasons. http://www.amazon.com/Database-Depth-Relational-Theory-Pract...
on “In defence of SQL” ↗I think you should learn the relational model (not SQL). Understand the problems it was trying to solve and how the relational model solves them. Then figure out how that applies to your app. Database in Depth was helpful for me http://www.amazon.com/Database-Depth-Relational-Theory-Pract... .
on “You are not a software engineer (2011)” ↗Hanging off this great comment, please anyone wanting to learn about relational databases I strongly suggest reading Database in Depth by C J Date. It's around 200 pages, you will learn a lot about the relational model, database/query/index design in a short amount of time, with a little bit of logic thrown in there too. Just need a…
on “Most data isn’t “big,” and businesses are wasting money pretending it is” ↗I really liked 'Database in Depth' by C.J. Date.
on “Spark as a Compiler: Joining a Billion Rows per Second on a Laptop” ↗…Composite/Structured Design by Glenford Myers. You have to get past the ancient languages and flowcharts. These books describe modularity and module strength and coupling and are full of good ideas that still apply. Database In Depth by C.J. Date, for programmers who haven't read Date's textbook on databases and probably don't need to. I do wish the NoSQL weenies would read Date's Introduction To Database Systems for some history…
on “Books Programmers Don't Really Read But Recommend” ↗…willing to ask, "Can we do better?" I think for a working programmer, SQL is the only practical choice, but Tutorial D is an interesting attempt to improve (by C.J. Date, described at length in his books Database in Depth and The Third Manifesto), with an open source implementation called Rel. There is also a commercial database called Dataphor that uses D4, a cousin to Tutorial D. There is also a newer project called…
on “The SQL filter clause: selective aggregates” ↗