Database Design for Mere Mortals, 3rd Edition

The #1 Easy, Commonsense Guide to Database Design! Michael J. Hernandez’s best-selling Database Design for Mere Mortals® has earned worldwide respect as the clearest, simplest way to learn relational database design. Now, he’s made this hands-on, software-independent tutorial even easier, while ensuring that his design methodology is still relevant to the latest databases, applications, and best practices. Step by step, Database Design for Mere Mortals ® , Third Edition, shows you how to design databases that are soundly structured, reliable, and flexible, even in modern web applications. Hernandez guides you through everything from database planning to defining tables, fields, keys, table relationships, business rules, and views. You’ll learn practical ways to improve data integrity, how to avoid common mistakes, and when to break the rules.

Coverage includes

• Understanding database types, models, and design terminology
• Discovering what good database design can do for you—and why bad design can make your life miserable
• Setting objectives for your database, and transforming those objectives into real designs
• Analyzing a current database so you can identify ways to improve it
• Establishing table structures and relationships, assigning primary keys, setting field specifications, and setting up views
• Ensuring the appropriate level of data integrity for each application
• Identifying and establishing business rules
• Whatever relational database systems you use, Hernandez will help you design databases that are robust and trustworthy. Never designed a database before? Settling for inadequate generic designs? Running existing databases that need improvement? Start here.

Table of Contents

Part I: Relational Database Design
Chapter 1: The Relational Database
Chapter 2: Design Objectives
Chapter 3: Terminology

Part II: The Design Process
Chapter 4: Conceptual Overview
Chapter 5: Starting the Process
Chapter 6: Analyzing the Current Database
Chapter 7: Establishing Table Structures
Chapter 8: Keys
Chapter 9: Field Specifications
Chapter 10: Table Relationships
Chapter 11: Business Rules
Chapter 12: Views
Chapter 13: Reviewing Data Integrity

Part III: Other Database Design Issues
Chapter 14: Bad Design—What Not to Do
Chapter 15: Bending or Breaking the Rules

Part IV: Appendixes
Appendix A: Answers to Review Questions
Appendix B: Diagram of the Database Design Process
Appendix C: Design Guidelines
Appendix D: Documentation Forms
Appendix E: Database Design Diagram Symbols
Appendix F: Sample Designs
Appendix G: On Normalization
Appendix H: Recommended Reading