Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design

What's New in the Second Edition

I revised this edition to improve readability, update or extend existing topics, add new content, and enhance its educational value. Here is a list of the changes you'll find in this edition:

• Much of the text has been rewritten to improve clarity and reader comprehension .

• Many of the figures and illustrations have been revised to improve clarity.

• New figures and illustrations have been added as warranted by revisions of or additons to existing text.

• Discussions of relational database management systems and the relational model in Chapter 1 have both been expanded to include brief content on recent technological advances and general industry direction.

• The premise behind the design methodology presented in this book is explained in Chapter 2.

• Discussion of nulls and the many-to-many relationship in Chapter 3 have both been expanded to provide greater detail on these subjects.

• Web-page-based examples are now included as appropriate in Chapter 6.

• Discussions of multivalued fields and the subset tables in Chapter 7 have both been expanded to provide greater detail on these subjects.

• The discussion of primary keys in Chapter 8 has been expanded to provide greater detail on this subject.

• The Field Specifications sheet has been updated and redesigned for improved flow and readability.

• The discussion of the Data Type field specification element in Chapter 9 has been expanded to include an introduction to Structured Query Language (SQL) data types.

• Discussions of self-referencing relationships and the Deny, Nullify , and Set Default deletion rules have been added to Chapter 10.

• Review questions have been added at the end of Chapters 1 through 12, and the answers to the questions appear in Appendix A.

• A flowchart of the design process has been provided as a quick reference tool and is included in Appendix B.

• All of the various design guidelines have been compiled in Appendix C.

• A glossary has been added to provide a quick reference for various terms used throughout the book.

• The accompanying CD includes files in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. These files contain the material in Appendixes B through F.