On Sun, 14 Dec 2008, Michael Hall wrote:
I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good general book on relational database design. ...
Mick, I highly recommend all the books by Joe Celko. He's been writing on database issues for at least 20 years and communicates very well. I know that he has a book that covers data normalization[1] and that's probably what you want to re-learn. His other topics are extremely helpful, too. For an outstanding book about SQL (recommended to me by Joe when I wrote to him about a source for knowledge of time-based databases[2]), read Rick van der Laans's "Introduction to SQL, 4th Edition." It's a very large book chock full of detailed information written very well. Rich -- Richard B. Shepard, Ph.D. | Integrity Credibility Applied Ecosystem Services, Inc. | Innovation <http://www.appl-ecosys.com> Voice: 503-667-4517 Fax: 503-667-8863 [1] There are several steps one undertakes to determine which attributes belong together in a table. When there is no duplication and referential integrity is ensured you'll have a stable and useful database schema that's easy to maintain. [2] Strangely enough -- to me, at least -- the lack of full support for date- and time-based SQL in database tools such as PostgreSQL is puzzling. Virtually all business-related databases (think accounting systems as a prime example) depend on dates. So do many scientific databases. -- Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
