The Purpose of This Book

   

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Who Should Read This Book

No previous background in database design is necessary to read this book. The reason you have this book in your hands is to learn how to design a database properly. If you're just getting into database management and you're thinking about developing your own databases, this book will be very valuable to you. It's better that you learn how to create a database properly from the beginning than that you learn by trial and error. The latter method takes much longer, believe me.

If you fall into the category of those people who have been working with database programs for a while and are ready to begin developing new databases for your company or business, you should read this book. You probably have a good feel for what a good database structure should look like, but aren't quite sure how database developers arrive at an effective design. Maybe you're a programmer who has created a number of databases following a few basic guidelines, but you have always ended up writing a lot of code to get the database to work properly. If this is the case, this book is also for you.

It would be a good idea for you to read this book even if you already have some background in database design. Perhaps you learned a design methodology back in college or attended a database class that discussed design, but your memory is vague about some details, or there were parts of the design process that you just did not completely understand. Those points with which you had difficulty will finally become clear once you learn and understand the design process presented in this book.

This book is also appropriate for those of you who are experienced database developers and programmers. Although you may already know many of the aspects of the design process that are presented here, you'll probably find that there are some elements that you've never before encountered or considered . You may even come up with fresh ideas about how to design your databases by reviewing the material in this book because many of the design processes familiar to you are presented here from a different viewpoint. At the very least, this book can serve as a great refresher course in database design.

Note

Those of you who have a burning desire to immerse yourselves in the depths of the database field (i.e., to learn the intricacies of database theory and design, analysis, implementation, administration, application development, and so on) should make a point of reading most of the books on my recommended reading list. Although I do not cover any of the aforementioned topics, my book does serve as the beginning of your journey into the realm of the database professional.

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