Acknowledgments

   

Preface (First Edition)

If the Lord Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon Creation, I should have recommended something simpler.

A LFONSO X, K ING OF C ASTILE AND L EON

Creating a database can be like creating a universe, only more complicated. At least when the universe was created, there was no one around to complain.

M ICHAEL J. H ERNANDEZ

It all started with a simple question: How do I properly design a database?

It was a question that propelled me onto an interesting journeya journey to find someone or some book that could provide the answer. This journey has taken me to a number of bookstores and put me in the path of many interesting and fascinating people. I've read a variety of books on the subject, from the totally incomprehensible to the sorely lacking in content, and had conversations with people ranging from those who were in my position to those who really knew their craft. I was fortunate to have a few people in the latter category become my mentors, and I learned a great deal from them.

Books were a different story. There came a moment when I realized that current books on database design were just not written for people like me. If you had a background in mathematics, a computer science degree, and had been working in the computer industry for some time, then you were the audience the authors of these books were trying to reach. Otherwise, there was very little available. The few attempts at "simplified" texts simply failed to teach effectively, often because the authors seemed to assume that the reader was simpleminded.

I believed that there should be a book for people who did not have high levels of specialized education; a book that was straightforward and easy to read, thorough but not tedious ; a book that used examples that were relatively easy to understand. So I wrote a special report on the fundamentals of database design for a local publisher, and it met with some success. Encouraged by this, I decided that someday I would write a book on the complete process of relational database design.

Early in my journey, I became a successful database developer and instructor. I've developed databases for a number of diverse organizations and businesses and have taken pleasure in instructing people on how to use a variety of database software programs. Throughout all this I've kept my sights on my goal.

It was at the 1995 Database Summit in Seattle, Washington, that I met Kathleen Tibbetts, a Developers Press editor for Addison-Wesley. At that moment my journey took quite a positive turn . She was looking for people with something to say, and I was definitely that type of person. Kathleen listened very patiently to the story of the journey upon which I had embarked. She determined that this would be a good time for me to work on realizing my goalto finally commit to paper all that I had learned about database design.

The book you now hold in your hands is a result of the culmination of this particular journey. I've shaped and molded the knowledge I accumulated into what I believe is a clear and straightforward database-design method. I've tried very hard to make it accessible to everyone, regardless of previous experience. I have sought a presentation that would be easier to learn and understand than traditional design methods , yet would yield the same results.

I believe that learning about database design is an ongoing process. I'm always learning more and more about the intricacies and nuances of designand so will you. Database design is more of an art than an exact science, involving as much intuition as pure theoretical and technical knowledge. It also involves communication skills and the ability to see things in the long term, as well as the short term . Database design can be a fascinating subject once you really get into it.


   
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Database Design for Mere Mortals[c] A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design
Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design
ISBN: 0201694719
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2002
Pages: 203

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