Good Database Design Books?

OneC0de writes "I am the Director of IT for a small/medium sized marketing company, where I personally write the code that runs our applications. We use a variety of technology at our office, the majority of which rely on MS-SQL and MySQL databases. I am familiar with tables, SQL queries, and have a general understanding of how the SQL databases work. What I'm looking for is a good book, particularly a newer book, to explain general database design techniques, and maybe explain some relational tables. We have some tables that have million of rows, and I'd like to know the best method of designing these tables."

Comments

Re:Somewhere, a coder is polishing his resume

[Anonymous Coward]

He was asking for a book, not your stupid criticism.

Learn about database normalization

[luis_a_espinal]

"I am the Director of IT for a small/medium sized marketing company, where I personally write the code that runs our applications. We use a variety of technology at our office, the majority of which rely on MS-SQL and MySQL databases. I am familiar with tables, SQL queries, and have a general understanding of how the SQL databases work. What I'm looking for is a good book, particularly a newer book, to explain general database design techniques, and maybe explain some relational tables. We have some tables that have million of rows, and I'd like to know the best method of designing these tables."

There is more to RDBMS than tables and SQL. Your developers should understand data normalization first and foremost, at least 1NF, 2NF and 3NF.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_normalization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_normal_form

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_normal_form

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_normal_form

The examples in the URLs above should suffice for getting a general understanding on how to start with a relational model. As for books, I'd suggest these:

http://www.amazon.com/Relational-Database-Design-Implementation-Third/dp/0123747309/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278630155&sr=8-4

http://www.amazon.com/Information-Modeling-Relational-Databases-Management/dp/0123735688/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1278630306&sr=1-3

I would also suggest C.J. Date's "Database in Depth: Relational Theory for Practitioners", but I can imagine the local penny arcade l33t-hax0r-wannabe crowd going batshit crazy about studying relational algebra and relational database theory in depth. To each his own. Most problems that arise in poorly designed relational database models arise from not understanding data normalization

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Re:Somewhere, a coder is polishing his resume

[martin-boundary]

When you post a question on Slashdot, you have to expect teenagers who comment from their parents' basement to call bullshit on you based on their own extensive 30+ years of experience dealing with fortune 500 companies.

HTH.