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  • Textbook
  • © 2013

Concise Guide to Databases

A Practical Introduction

  • Includes numerous examples to support the description of both business and technical issues
  • Introduces a range of commercial databases and encourages the reader to experiment with these in an associated learning environment
  • Presents a mixture of both theory and practical elements
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Part of the book series: Undergraduate Topics in Computer Science (UTICS)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XIX
  2. Databases in Context

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1
    2. Data, an Organisational Asset

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 3-19
    3. A History of Databases

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 21-40
    4. Physical Storage and Distribution

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 41-65
  3. Database Types

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 67-67
    2. Relational Databases

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 69-96
    3. NoSQL Databases

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 97-134
    4. Big Data

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 135-159
    5. Object and Object Relational Databases

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 161-182
    6. In-Memory Databases

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 183-197
  4. What Database Professionals Worry About

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 199-199
    2. Database Scalability

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 201-219
    3. Database Availability

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 221-239
    4. Database Performance

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 241-282
    5. Security

      • Peter Lake, Paul Crowther
      Pages 283-301
  5. Back Matter

    Pages 303-307

About this book

This easy-to-read textbook/reference presents a comprehensive introduction to databases, opening with a concise history of databases and of data as an organisational asset. As relational database management systems are no longer the only database solution, the book takes a wider view of database technology, encompassing big data, NoSQL, object and object-relational and in-memory databases. The text also examines the issues of scalability, availability, performance and security encountered when building and running a database in the real world. 

Topics and features: presents review and discussion questions at the end of each chapter, in addition to skill-building, hands-on exercises; introduces the fundamental concepts and technologies in database systems, placing these in an historic context; describes the challenges faced by database professionals; reviews the use of a variety of database types in business environments; discusses areas for further research within this fast-moving domain.

Reviews

From the book reviews:

“You may be interested in this book if you are a database newcomer or if you want to get a bigger picture of databases in general. Also, if you want to look at new solutions in DB business that could suit your company then you may be interested in this book. … This book may be useful if you are starting out on your DB journey and want to quickly get to know what it is all about.” (Konrad Zdanowski, Vertabelo blog, vertabelo.com, March, 2015)

“Students who want to learn about the changes in concepts related to data and databases will benefit from reading this book. … This book will help computer scientists, students, and people who are working on data to gain a good understanding of basic data concepts and trends in data. I highly recommend it to engineers working on subjects related to data and to graduate /undergraduate students as a reference book.” (Gulustan Dogan, Computing Reviews, August, 2014)

“I found this book quite interesting, andeasy to read and follow. It is very well structured, with good usage of theoretical and practical examples and many illustrations. … I would recommend it for computer science undergraduates, as well as postgraduate students and researchers … . a valuable source for self-study for practicing database professionals, or even for a course taught at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. Some university instructors may even adopt it as a core text.” (Georgia Garani, Computing Reviews, June, 2014)

Authors and Affiliations

  • Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, United Kingdom

    Peter Lake, Paul Crowther

About the authors

Peter Lake is Course Leader for the Oracle IT&M MSc and the IT Professional MSc at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. His other Springer publications include the successful Guide to Cloud Computing.

Paul Crowther is Head of Postgraduate (taught programmes) in the Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 44.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access