Received: from athene.i.eunet.no (athene.i.eunet.no [193.71.2.52]) by postgresql.org (8.11.3/8.11.1) with ESMTP id f4FBd8A43584 for ; Tue, 15 May 2001 07:39:08 -0400 (EDT) (envelope-from tih@athene.i.eunet.no) Received: by athene.i.eunet.no (Postfix, from userid 1001) id A6E7E242A; Tue, 15 May 2001 13:39:03 +0200 (CEST) To: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org Subject: Bruce's book -- partial review From: Tom Ivar Helbekkmo Date: 15 May 2001 13:39:03 +0200 Message-ID: <863da6zvs8.fsf@athene.i.eunet.no> Lines: 28 User-Agent: Gnus/5.090001 (Oort Gnus v0.01) Emacs/20.7 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Archive-Number: 200105/70 X-Sequence-Number: 753 I just had to write... :-) My copy of "PostgreSQL Introduction and Concepts" by Bruce Momjian arrived from Amazon the other day. I've read the first 14 chapters so far (the part specifically about SQL), and am very impressed! This is a very good, well written, easy to understand introduction to relational databases and SQL, and everything is illustrated using simple, to-the-point examples. It starts with the most basic bits, assuming no database knowledge, and teaches basic data manipulation, aggregates, the various joins, sequences, complex queries, data types, indexing, transactions, user controlled locking, constraints, access control and foreign keys -- all in a clear, easily understood fashion, and in a mere 170 pages. I wouldn't have thought it possible. I'm also happy to see the reference manual included in the book for easy access -- this means it actually gets consulted as one reads. ;-) I would not hesitate to recommend to someone who wants to learn about RDBMS-es that they install PostgreSQL on a UNIX system, and then use this book as their learning guide. In fact, I'm sure I'll probably be recommending just that to several people. :-) Great work, Bruce! -tih -- The basic difference is this: hackers build things, crackers break them.