
Database systems
by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman, Jennifer D. Widom · first published 2001
19mentions
11recommended by
16HN commenters
2010–2026first – last mentioned
69% recommend31% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Covers relational modeling, normalization, relational algebra, and SQL, plus a second half on how database systems are implemented; recommended for learners who want more than how to use a database.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Oh, I think I misunderstood. My goto introduction is Database Systems: The Complete Book by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeff Ullman, and Jennifer Widom. The first edition can often picked up online in used but reasonable condition for very little money. On the other hand, another…
on “Ask HN: Which books should I to read to become a storage engine designer?” ↗If you want to learn more than just how to use a database I recommend Ullman's and Garcia-Molina's "Database Systems: The Complete Book."[1] It has overview of classic topics such as relational algebra and calculus, practical topics such as using a SQL database, and the second half is devoted to an overview of how databases…
on “Ask HN: I want to start learning about databases, where should I start?” ↗…you want to learn C, read K&R to learn something approximating C89, rather than picking up a book on how to code to the specific dialect of C understood by GCC 4.5. For what it is worth, I learned from Database Systems: The Complete Book. http://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-2nd/dp/... DS:TCB is pretty explicit about which of the SQL it teaches is part of which standard. That said, I suspect that…
on “Ask HN: I want to start learning about databases, where should I start?” ↗I'd also suggest the course along with sections of http://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-Edition...
on “Ask HN: Best Databases book?” ↗I am currently enjoying the First Edition of Database Systems: the Complete Book. I picked up a very good copy from Amazon for $6.99 [ $3.00 plus $3.99 shipping ]. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap... I've become a fan of Ullman...Bell…
on “Ask HN: Relational Databases and Concepts” ↗…database. If the value is interpreted as a pointer you can get to a graph database. If the value is interpreted as a document you get some other sort of database. If you're really interested in databases, Database Systems: the Complete Book is an introductory text that I enjoyed last year. I picked up a used copy of an older edition for less than $10 online. http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/dscb.html
on “Ask HN: Please help me to understand how key/value stores can back databases?” ↗My favorite introductory book is Database Systems: The Complete Book, by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeff Ullman, and Jennifer Widom. The first edition is probably good enough and usable used copies are often available for less than $10 online. In terms of…
on “Ask HN: How to learn relational database” ↗…wouldn't be intuitive to me how to build, is there a theory behind it?'. Quite often the answer is yes. Operating Systems: The dinosaur book. Databases: At the University Of Washington I was told to read Database Systems by Garcia-Molina: https://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-2nd/dp... To talk a little bit more about what recommends this approach over other ones: The other comments seem to be recommending…
on “Ask HN: Programmers of the 80s how do I learn to build the things you built?” ↗My Tip: Grab an old cheap copy of "Database Systems: The Complete Book" (by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman and Jennifer Widom). Here is an updated edition: https://www.amazon.com/dp/129202447X/
on “Foundations of Databases (1995)” ↗Great list. Almost anything Jim Gray wrote, or any of Michael Stonebraker's C-store stuff, is worth reading. Database Systems: The Complete Book by Garcia-Molina, Ullman, and Widom seems to be one of the few full books with decent coverage of implementing a database, even though anyone wanting to implement a modern database…
on “Readings in Databases” ↗I still own a copy of "Database Systems: The Complete Book" (by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeffrey D. Ullman and Jennifer Widom). I highly recommend it. Those books with such deep knowledge are very rare these days.
on “Héctor Garcia-Molina, 1953–2019” ↗The book "Database Systems Implementation" by Hector Garcia Molina is a good start.Building a database system from scratch has one of the most rewarding exercises. Also check out this stanford course http://infolab.stanford.edu/~widom/cs346/
on “Roll your own Unix” ↗I've never come across a great book of relational models specific to domains. My favorite general db book is Database Systems: The Complete Book (DS:CB), by Hector Garcia-Molina, Jeff Ullman, and Jennifer Widom. This is a good book for learning about relational modeling and how to normalize a model so that your eventual schema…
on “What is your goto RDBMS pattern book?” ↗…see this discussion? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32965075 As far as books are concerend: - Database Internals - Designing Data Intensive Applications - Disk-Based Algorithms for Big Data - Database Systems by Ullman et al (http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/pub/dscbtoc.txt) Part IV covers implementation details of a database system.
on “Ask HN: What are some good resources for learning about low level disk/file IO?” ↗I remember learning that stuff from the book by jeffrey Ullman. Try this page http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/fcdb/aut07/index.html#le... http://www.amazon.com/Database-Systems-Complete-Book-2nd/dp/... this too http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput...
on “List of Computer Science Courses” ↗