| | |  | Software Engineering | Home » » » Absolute Beginner's Guide to Databases | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | Description: | | Absolute Beginner's Guide to Databases brings the elements of a database together using easy to understand language, perfect for the true beginner. It not only gives specific hands on practice, but also provides an overview of designing, maintaining and using a database. This book covers what databases are used for, why databases are important, why the design of the database is important, database normalization, keys to solid database design, differences in types of databases, and indexes--what they are, how we use them, and why they are important. | | | Product Details: | | | Author:
| John Petersen | | Paperback:
| 313 pages | | Publisher:
| Que | | Publication Date:
| March 15, 2002 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 078972569X | | Product Length:
| 9.12 inches | | Product Width:
| 7.4 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.76 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.23 pounds | | Package Length:
| 9.1 inches | | Package Width:
| 7.3 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.9 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.3 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 10 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 10 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 21 found the following review helpful:
 A great intro book to databases!Jul 17, 2003
By cindy_uf
I had no experience with databases before I read this book. I didn't even understand the basic concepts. This book includes basic definitions, detailed database design, SQL statements, how to use Microsoft Access (creating tables, relationships, queries, forms and reports). If you have little or no experience with databases, you will definitely take advantage of this book. It's very easy to read.
17 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Great for absolute beginnersApr 08, 2005
By J. Soper
"Kratze"
This won't necessarily be a book you look at much once you've digested its contents. What it does is outline basic database concepts using Access in its examples. You can use the book to get a basic Access database started, but don't rely on it if you're looking to create databases. Get an Access or database design book if that's your primary goal - IF, that is, IF you can make heads or tails out of most of what those books are talking about.
What I love about the book is its dedication to simplicity: I looked all over the place for a book that outlined basic database concepts in an easy to understand manner, and found book after book that promised to be 0-60, and spent about, oh, 2 pages on the 0-10. Where's the core basics, guys? Answer: in this book. It'll getcha up to 10 MPH, and then you can move on to bigger and better stuff.
After reading this book (and I had it bookmarked twelve ways come Sunday for about two months), I am finally ready to consider those more advanced books. I'm not a dummy, but sometimes a simple book is needed to bridge the gap between being a novice and being experienced. This was the book for me, and I highly recommend it to anybody who needs more than 2 pages of core database theory explanation. It's also easy to read and very user-friendly, by the way.
12 of 13 found the following review helpful:
 A great book lives up to the title!!!May 04, 2003
By Daniel Lamb
Now here is a book that really DOES live up to its title! Even for those of us who have built databases before, it contains surprises and would hold a worthy place on your shelf for review purposes if nothing else. As another review said, the additional info on the use of Visio is a nice touch. I personally had a few problems using it, but I was using Visio 2002 and Access 2002, and not version 2000, as the book used. This could have been the source of my problems, (that or an inability for me to follow instructions!) Either way though, the book really does have good, usable information under its covers, and is a worthy read for neophytes as well as the more experienced database mechanics and architects.
7 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 A terrible disappointmentNov 18, 2009
By UXF
This book aims to give a basic conceptual overview of databases and a specific introduction to Microsoft Access. It fails at both.
I found the conceptual overview incomprehensible, and I have read some pretty dense technical stuff and learned software from manuals. The author has a serious problem with definitions, explanations, and examples. His definitions are either inane ("A table represents a 'thing' about an organization." - basically not a definition at all) or unhelpful ("Database normalization can best be described as the process of organizing a database." - isn't everything in the book about the process of organizing a database?) or indecipherable ("The fourth normal form isolates independent multiple relationships, and the fifth normal form isolates semantically related multiple relationships." - because all "absolutely beginners" know what an independent multiple relationship or a semantically related multiple relationship is, right?).
It seems as if the author gives purposely useless definitions so that he can say, Let me explain by using an example instead. But he does not know how to explain from examples. His writing does not make clear what in the example is a universal principle and what is a specific illustration. One example moves to another without an idea of what the point of the example was. After reading and re-reading his chapter of database normalization, one of the basic conceptual principles, I had a deep urge to whip out my college writing instructor's red pen. If I did, the pages would bleed with comments like, How? Why? How does this relate to this? How does this sentence follow from the previous sentence? Unclear!
It doesn't help that the author has a lazy, annoying writing style filled with crutches like "The question is ...," "The question remains ..." "What the heck does this all mean?" Usually, I don't know why the question is being asked. I don't know why the question "remains" and wasn't answered chapters earlier. And worst of all, most of the time, the author never answers his own question! The frequent editing errors don't make it any easier for me to decipher the text.
As for the chapters focusing specifically on Access, they fail due to the over-reliance on screen shots. One of the other reviewers commented that you need a magnifying glass and 20/20 vision. I actually have 20/15 vision and still cannot make out the tiny images. A magnifying glass would be of no help because it's the print quality that renders the micro-fonts illegible. How did this ever get past quality control? As others noted, you have to have Access open on a computer to even try to follow the book.
This is bad teaching, bad writing, bad editing, bad publishing, and ultimately, bad thinking. So the question remains: Does technical writing have to be so bad?
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
This book was neededMar 13, 2002
Finally, a simple and concise book that talks about introductory database concepts AND design. In the matter of a short space, John has done a supurb job of boiling down the material to an understandable level.
See all 10 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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