Reddit mentions: The best relational databases books
We found 43 Reddit comments discussing the best relational databases books. We ran sentiment analysis on each of these comments to determine how redditors feel about different products. We found 20 products and ranked them based on the amount of positive reactions they received. Here are the top 20.
1. The Art of SQL
- ISBN13: 9780596008949
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
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Specs:
Height | 9.19 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | March 2006 |
Weight | 1.27 Pounds |
Width | 0.86 Inches |
2. Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design (2nd Edition)
- Relational Database Design
- Disign Objectives
- Terminology
- Establishing Table Structures
- Anaylyzing the current database
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Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 7.25 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.535316013 Pounds |
Width | 1.25 Inches |
3. Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms And All That Jazz (Theory In Practice)
O Reilly Media
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Height | 9.19 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | April 2012 |
Weight | 0.95 Pounds |
Width | 0.7 Inches |
4. Data Management: Databases & Organizations
- SAVORY SNACK BAR: a perfect on-the-go snack featuring 100% grass-fed bison, bacon and cranberries with 7 grams of protein per serving
- CONVENIENT: EPIC Meat Bars are the perfect mid-day or afternoon snack to keep on-hand.
- GRASS-FED: 100% grass-fed bison used
- HEALTHY SNACK: Certified Gluten-Free, Paleo friendly
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Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 7.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.49783742846 Pounds |
Width | 1.45 Inches |
6. Inside Relational Databases with Examples in Access
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 7.01 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.6644900781 Pounds |
Width | 0.92 Inches |
7. Harnessing Hibernate
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.19 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | May 2008 |
Weight | 1.34041055296 Pounds |
Width | 0.89 Inches |
8. Handbook of Relational Database Design
- Life Time Warranty
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Height | 9.5 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.9951834711 Pounds |
Width | 1 Inches |
9. SQL For Dummies
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.259824 Inches |
Length | 7.4759693 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.50796187208 Pounds |
Width | 0.98814763 Inches |
10. Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 8.25 Inches |
Length | 5.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | August 2007 |
Weight | 0.90830451944 Pounds |
Width | 0.82 Inches |
11. SQL QuickStart Guide: The Simplified Beginner's Guide To SQL
SQL QuickStart Guide The Simplified Beginner s Guide to SQL
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Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 7.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 0.32 pounds |
Width | 0.18 Inches |
12. Introduction to SQL: Mastering the Relational Database Language (4th Edition)
- Gundam Marker Fine Grey, water based. Great for touch up, and drawing panel line. Unlike regular fine pen you find in a store, Gundam Marker is designed to easily fill in groove.
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Height | 9.5 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 3.24740911926 Pounds |
Width | 2 Inches |
13. Relational Database Design Clearly Explained
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Length | 7.5 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.36025215654 Pounds |
Width | 0.75 Inches |
14. Data Munging with Perl
Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.23 Inches |
Length | 7.36 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.1904962148 Pounds |
Width | 0.65 Inches |
15. Transact-SQL Programming: Covers Microsoft SQL Server 6.5 /7.0 and Sybase Adaptive Server 11.5
- 180 sheets in a package
- Brand new in the original package, One sided, white on the other side
- Size: 5-7/8 inch square
- 24 colors, gold and silver color included
- Caution: choking hazard, Not to be used by children except under adult supervision.
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Specs:
Height | 9.19 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.65 Pounds |
Width | 1.55 Inches |
16. A Guided Tour of Relational Databases and Beyond
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Color | Black |
Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 6.1 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 5.3131405142 Pounds |
Width | 1.45 Inches |
17. Database Design for Mere Mortals: A Hands-On Guide to Relational Database Design
- Used Book in Good Condition
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Height | 9.25 Inches |
Length | 1 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 1.54764507924 Pounds |
Width | 7.5 Inches |
18. Relational Database Design and Implementation: Clearly Explained
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Height | 9.99998 Inches |
Length | 7.00786 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | July 2009 |
Weight | 1.9621141318 Pounds |
Width | 0.8964549 Inches |
19. Object-Relational Database Development: A Plumber's Guide (With CD-ROM)
- Handmade Firepit made of Steel
- Starwars Death Star Replica
- Excellent Firepit for entertaining
- Star Wars Fire Pit Death Star
- Made to Order and can take 3-4 weeks for delivery
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Height | 9 Inches |
Length | 7 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Weight | 2.59704544636 Pounds |
Width | 1.25 Inches |
20. Building Object Applications that Work (SIGS: Managing Object Technology)
Used Book in Good Condition
Specs:
Height | 10 Inches |
Length | 7.01 Inches |
Number of items | 1 |
Release date | February 1998 |
Weight | 1.9180216794 Pounds |
Width | 1.02 Inches |
🎓 Reddit experts on relational databases books
The comments and opinions expressed on this page are written exclusively by redditors. To provide you with the most relevant data, we sourced opinions from the most knowledgeable Reddit users based the total number of upvotes and downvotes received across comments on subreddits where relational databases books are discussed. For your reference and for the sake of transparency, here are the specialists whose opinions mattered the most in our ranking.
There's plenty of online courses such as codeacademy to learn SQL. I found the book Inside Relational Databases to be very good too. It uses MS Access and the latest edition is from 2007. I emailed the author with concerns that the content might be too out of date but he told me that the basics around relational db's really hasn't changed in all the years and you can use any relational db (MySQL, etc.) while studying the book. Very helpful guy.
Jersey is a popular JAX-RS API implementation that will give you a very good grounding in RESTful programming in Java. It's actually very easy to use once you understand the concept.
Most web development involving Java these days seems to gear towards some sort of Javascript framework on the client side with a RESTful Java service (e.g. Jersey) on the server side.
Database Design for Mere Mortals is an excellent book that simply explains how databases work, what normalization is and why it's important, and how to create good, well-designed databases.
As far as learning SQL, MSDN has a lot of good documentation on it. I also recommend SQL Server Central, as they have some tests that will help you figure it out.
And, as always, almighty Google should have some excellent information.
I hope this helps you!
I found this book: https://www.amazon.com/Data-Management-Organizations-Richard-Watson/dp/0471715360 incredibly friendly for beginners.
I especially liked the exercises. They are similar enough to the things he covers in the chapters that a beginner wouldn't be lost, but just different enough to force you to learn. To check if you did them right, there's an answer key somewhere online. If I remember correctly, there are tables you create and populate with data to help you practice, as well as a database project near the end that gives you just an entity-relationship diagram and then you have to make it and query it.
In the beginning, I just used the command line + text editor (on Linux), because I wanted to be able to look at a blank piece of paper and know how to code it from scratch - it helped me memorize things better. Later I also used MySQL Workbench for convenience, which is free, but I don't know how it performs on a Mac.
The Oracle training is outdated and irrelavant. The Percona training is up to date and very good. But both are aimed at DBA's, sysadmins, and application developers.
For your needs, you need to learn SQL, and learn to get useful information out of alien data sets.
Start with the basics:
You Can download some example databases:
I suggest you buy a book called 'The Art of SQL':
SQL is essentially math and programming. Having a good book for reference is highly recommended.
MySQL workbench is a pretty handy tool. If you are going to connect to multiple databases (Oracle, MySQL, MS SQL, DB2 etc) then maybe look at a Navicat or RazorSQL license.
For when you are feeling more confident with SQL, either look at learning VBA in Excel or Python and the PyData Libraries:
If you're talking about a publicly available dataset, it will probably be in a delimited format, like .csv or .tsv. Go get MySQL or even the Microsoft SQL Server free version and then you'll just import your dataset into your server and then you can start querying. It's been a while since I've looked, but you might still be able to pick up a free copy of AdventureWorks here, which is a nice starter database w/ several tables so you can figure out how joins work. As for books, I like the Murach books. A nice one for conceptual stuff (first few chapters) is The Art of SQL
Just a few random items....
As you implement you will run into issues. Searching the web for these specific cases will get you to many blogs / Stackoverflow articles on that specific issue.
I found the best way to think about relational data in general is to start with an old book, one that covers the subject in a pure way without reference to any particular system. Then you can translate the concepts into a nice modern system like PostgreSQL. http://www.amazon.com/Handbook-Relational-Database-Candace-Fleming/dp/0201114348
If you just want to jump in and try stuff out here are some tutorials and docs.
Here are some tutorials about triggers
http://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-triggers/
Managing roles (the "official" docs are actually pretty good)
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/user-manag.html
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/sql-grant.html
http://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-roles/
Creating schemas and using the search path
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/static/ddl-schemas.html
The best book I found was the Dummies guide to SQL
Really good as a reference manual as well as a how-to.
And don't worry about being rubbish, I've been doing SQL daily at a professional level for 13 years and it's still quite hard. SQL is very powerful but the syntax is a bit lacking.
Good luck.
PostgreSQL and MySQL are your open source go tos.
If you are going enterprise stick with MSSQL over Oracle.
For Database design how far do you want to dig into theory?
https://www.amazon.com/Database-Design-Relational-Theory-Practice/dp/1449328016 dives pretty deep but stays useful.
But, you could get away with just the intuitive understanding of what a 'Star Schema' and 'Snow Flake' schema is for a project like yours.
I'm assuming you are interested in designing schemas for relational databases, and not writing relational databases.
I really like CJ Date's SQL and Relational Theory and Database Design and Relational Theory. Use The Index, Luke is a nice site, too, with generally less formal information than Date's books, but more practical info about day-to-day problems.
If you'd like to dig under the covers, I'd start with Principles of Transaction Processing. Philip Bernstein knows what he is talking about, and is active in database research. Gray and Reuter's Transaction Processing is a classic, but is less approachable.
This is a FANTASTIC book. If I had three thumbs they would all be, ahem, up. ;)
It is platform-agnostic. It's not about learning how to use SQL Server, or Access. It teaches you database design without confusing you with textbook-type instruction.
Do you expect more than a few thousand people will access this system. If not then definitely stick with an RDBMS. NoSQL is generally only appropriate if you need blindlingly fast reads, tolerably slow writes, and scalability with commodity hardware. RDBMSes give you balance of read and write throughput for a less-than-crazy number of users, and they make it far easier to maintain data integrity.
Working with relational data is as much art as skill. Even for something as simple as an inventory system (the 'Hello World' of databases) there are a number of choices to make and peculiarities to troubleshoot.
In addition to whatever database specific books you may need, I would suggest you pick up
The Art of SQL. It teaches how think about data and relationships declaratively and to understand complex data systems from the outside in.
If you are the type that doesn't mind reading a book, there's a book called The Art of SQL, it's all about fine tuning queries for performance, it will definitely help you. https://www.amazon.com/Art-SQL-Peter-Robson-ebook/dp/B0028N4WEC
I wouldn't go that far, but the book has little practical value. Date is very knowledgeable, but he writes like an academic - he can take any piece of prose and suck the life out of it.
The Art of SQL is a much better book.
Hug looks really interesting, I hadn't heard of it before. My recommendation however is that you use something like Flask or Django with Django-rest-framework. Hug doesn't really have the documentation, tutorials, or blog posts that can be helpful for beginners with web APIs (if you're not a beginner apologies, but that's the impression I got from your post.) The core idea around Hug seems solid, but you're going to be figuring a lot out on your own, which will inevitably lead to first-timer mistakes.
As far as databases go, before coding anything, read Database Design for Mere Mortals. You're not going to become a DBA overnight, but you'll avoid many of the common beginner mistakes.
https://www.amazon.com/Database-Design-Mere-Mortals-Hands/dp/0201752840
I read that book back in college for my Databases class and thought it was a pretty easy read. It's long, but can also surprisingly be a quick read, esp if you just go thru it w/ a highlighter and don't take much notes beyond that.
There's also a newer version of the book available.
Are there any specific questions you have about databases tho, or any specific topics that confuse you? What database software are you guys working with? MySQL? MariaDB? Microsoft Access? PostgreSQL? MongoDB?
Re-iterating what the previous posters said: the fundamentals are the same regardless of system. Learning how to get data out of a SQL system is all about learning how to write SQL.
To effectively learn how to write SQL for data engineering, I highly recommend grabbing a book like one of these*:
and grabbing a sample database for the system of your choice:
and then practice some of your chosen book on the sample db.
Notes and words of warning:
^((*I'm not affiliated w/ any of those books))
A well-thumbed book sitting on my desk. Yet, the post in question wasn't addressing optimization as such. It was more of an overview of models and design with optimization considerations.
(Another favorite of mine is The art of SQL.)
You're thinking like a java developer. Stop thinking open source and retrain your mind to think in sets. Once you've got the basics of set-based computing down, the particular DBMS you end up working with is just a matter of learning server config and eventually the nuances of particular execution plan creation and management.
Try something like this that is totally independent of RDMS. Learn the fundamentals of the SQL language, thinking in terms of sets, and basic performance management through indexing and you'll be miles ahead of the game.
If you own the data, go with RDBMS. Every time. DDDB's are useful when you want to store data from other systems that you don't really give a damn about (in terms of structure or content).
If I were you I'd do some book learning.
You need to come to a consensus on what constitutes a record in your system and use that to design a primary key. I think if you do some research into introductory DB concepts the rest will become obvious over time, FWIW.
The camel book has been (if i'm not being presumptuous) the go-to for most people for as long as I've been coding.
Also, i highly recommend a book that may still exist called data munging for perl. Has like a wizard on it, which is fan-tastic. Actually, he might just be some guy from another culture, and i'm an ignorant racist, though I don't know how presuming you're a wizard is really offensive.
Yeah, here: http://www.amazon.com/Data-Munging-Perl-David-Cross/dp/1930110006
That's really good from a conceptual point of view.
Also, there was this thing called the perl cookbook that you may want at some point, it's o'reilly. Good for not reinventing the wheel.
Totally kidding by the way. What database back ends do you have odbc/oledb access to? If it is SQL server...I was mentored (3 jobs ago) by the author of this book. This might give you a good start, even if it is just to understand what is possible with SQL
http://www.amazon.com/Transact-SQL-Programming-Covers-Microsoft-Adaptive/dp/1565924010
http://www.amazon.com/SQL-Antipatterns-Programming-Pragmatic-Programmers/dp/1934356557/ref=pd_sim_b_3
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Celkos-SQL-Smarties-Programming/dp/1558605762
http://www.amazon.com/Art-SQL-Stephane-Faroult/dp/0596008945/ref=pd_sim_b_4
http://www.amazon.com/SQL-Relational-Theory-Write-Accurate/dp/0596523068/ref=pd_sim_b_7
And then read a book on whichever dialect of SQL you're using, because they're pretty different.
I found this book to be really good:
https://www.amazon.com/Art-SQL-Peter-Robson-ebook-dp-B0028N4WEC/dp/B0028N4WEC/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=1568905015
If you are doing BI with MS SQL I would also start learning DAX.
For the theory aspects:
Foundations of Databases: The Logical Level by Serge Abiteboul, Richard Hull, and Victor Vianu (quite heavy).
A lighter alternative would be A Guided Tour of Relational Databases and Beyond by Mark Levene and George Loizou.
If you can tolerate his endless ranting, CJ Date's books are also good.
Good introductory text> Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft SQL Server T-SQL in 10 Minutes
Whether you use MYSQL or other db engines, I always recommend Database Design for Mere Mortals by Michael J. Hernandez.
Database Management. You WILL need a database and knowing SQL isn't enough.
My advice is to pick up Data Management by Richard T. Watson. Yes it is expensive, but it covers through post-graduate material (and also what I used for my intro to databases last semester).
If it's something you might want to learn more on (as back end dev work can be very lucrative), I'd recommend a book, "The art of SQL". It's more than a simple text book or cookbook, it teaches you how to think about sql problems in the context of real world applications.
https://www.amazon.com/Art-SQL-Stephane-Faroult/dp/0596008945
edit Also pinal dave of SQL authority is a life saver, check out his blog at:
https://blog.sqlauthority.com/
I'd personally add
The Art of SQL
Not really suitable as a reference work though, but the information contained herein should be taught in school (but as evidenced by most developers' SQL skills, obviously isn't)
Handbook of Relational Database Design by Fleming and von Halle
I've been a DBA for like 10 years and I don't have a great recommendation for a book on relational database design and concepts. The textbook for my database course in college was terrible, but the lectures explaining a few of the normal forms and their various characteristics were totally invaluable.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a introductory, but in-depth book on RDBMSs? Not interested in SQL-specific. Like, this book is the subject material I would want, but it sounds terrible to me: Relational Database Design and Implementation by Jan Harrington
That's definitely what should be the next step in your education, but I still don't have a good suggestion.
Agreed.
BTW, you'd probably find this interesting. I was reading a book and found this quote from 12 years ago:
> "Regrettably, much of the considerable energy of the OODBMS community has
> been expended relearning the lessons of twenty years ago.
> First, OODBMS vendors have rediscovered the difficulties of tying
> database design too closely to application design. Maintaining and
> evolving an OODBMS-based information system is an arduous undertaking.
> Second, they relearned that declarative languages such as
> SQL-92 bring such tremendous productivity gains that organizations
> will pay for the additional computational resources they require. You
> can always buy hardware, but not time. Third, they re-discovered the
> fact that a lack of a standard data model leads to design errors and
> inconsistencies."
The book was http://www.amazon.com/Object-Relational-Database-Development-Plumbers-CD-ROM/dp/0130194603, authored in 2000.
My immediate thought was "just like NoSQL."
I'm a business analyst here too - do you have any experience with SQL at all? I'm not creating databases wholesale or even writing the insert statements - our development team does that - but the main reason most places ask for that is because you'll need to be able to write basic queries in order to pull reports. I took a class during my master's degree. This was the textbook we used.
If you put in your cover letter something to the effect of "While I don't have two years of SQL experience yet, I am familiar enough with MySQL to be able to run basic queries for reports as necessary" -- then most places you apply to will overlook the missing experience. They just want to know you can grab data and manipulate it.
If you want to be good at sql, you have to think in sets. Also you need to pic a platform to learn on because even tho SQL is a standard, the sql will look different on different platforms.
these books balance each other out. Start with Date first. Celko can get you into trouble in places.
edit: i just realized that the author wanted to learn sql, not how start out designing databases. Whoops. Syntax can be learned anywhere. The previous books will discuss how to build properly built databases. However poorly built databases will stress you SQL-fu
Read "The Object Primer" by Scott Ambler (chapters 1, 2, 4, 5 and 8). And if you want to really kill it "Building Object Applications That Work" also by Scott Ambler (chapters 1-4).