Database Modeling and Design: Logical Design

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Great introductory book on database design. Plenty of illustrative examples and a nice progression of concepts through the book.

Fast turn around and very useful subject matter

I have a Computer Science background and I have worked in various capacities ranging from software design and development to systems engineering and project management. I work on a lot of large scale software programs which rely on robust, properly designed relational database systems.The authors start off with a very accurate statement in the introduction; knowing and understanding both data modeling and database design techniques and applying that knowledge to logical and physical database design are important knowledge assets.The book starts with an introduction to ER diagrams which are frequently used in conceptual data modeling. Some sage advice is given in the "Tips and Insights for Database Professionals". The next chapter delves into UML, which I have seen used on every program I have worked on. Indeed, having a working knowledge of ER and UML diagrams helps convey your designs in a more-or-less standardized language format. Not all organizations embrace all types of UML diagrams, so a generalized knowledge is key, and this book only touches the surface of both UML and ER diagramming. I would recommend supplemental references for really getting into UML or ER diagramming.The next chapter is on requirements analysis and conceptual data modeling. The authors contend that RA feeds conceptual data modeling using ER and UML diagrams, which I have found to be common. Moving along, there is a discussion on transforming the conceptual data model to SQL. This is a good high level introductory chapter. From this chapter, we move into normalization. Normalization is difficult and requires proper performance analysis.Chapter 7 introduces an example of logical database design. This example is short and simplistic but it does convey some good points. The next chapter on object relational design takes the reader a step farther. All programs I have worked on involved object oriented design and implementation, and this chapter attempts to reduce the impedance mismatch typical of marrying object oriented software with a relational DBMS.Chapter 9 involves XML and Web Databases, or web technologies and how they impact database design. A brief discussion on web technologies and the architecture of databases in websites is given. Next, we have a very long chapter on Business Intelligence, covering aspects of data warehousing, OLAP and data mining. Chapter 11 discusses commonly used CASE tools useful in database design. This is relatively good information, but keep in mind that you will typically be bound to the software or CASE tools that have been chosen for your organization. The rest of the book is a reference appendix on SQL and references.Overall, this book covers a lot of ground, lending itself to an introductory database modeling and design course and the undergraduate or graduate level. Since there is a lot to the art of database modeling and design, this relatively small book can't provide the depth needed to readily assist a seasoned professional, but it is ideal for someone starting out or a junior level engineer in industry. I have used this book a couple of times as a reference but I typically find myself wanting to know less about theory and more about practical application of knowledge. So for the right audience, this is a good introduction and reference.

As described and on time.