1. Chapter One Introduction

   1. A Remark on Terminology

   2. Principles, Not Products

   3. A Review of the Original Model

   4. Model Versus Implementation

   5. Properties of Relations

   6. Relations Versus Relvars

   7. Values Versus Variables

   8. Summary

   9. Exercises

2. Chapter Two Relations Versus Types

   1. Domain-Constrained Comparisons

   2. Data Value Atomicity

   3. So What's a Type?

   4. Scalar Versus Nonscalar Types

   5. Summary

   6. Exercises

3. Chapter Three Tuples and Relations

   1. What's a Tuple?

   2. Some Important Consequences

   3. What's a Relation?

   4. Further Important Consequences

   5. Why Duplicate Tuples Are Prohibited

   6. Why Nulls Are Prohibited

   7. TABLE_DUM and TABLE_DEE

   8. Summary

   9. Exercises

4. Chapter Four Relation Variables

   1. Updating Is Set-at-a-Time

   2. More on Candidate Keys

   3. More on Foreign Keys

   4. More on Views

   5. Relvars and Predicates

   6. More on Relations Versus Types

   7. Summary

   8. Exercises

5. Chapter Five Relational Algebra

   1. More on Closure

   2. The Original Operators

   3. Evaluating SQL Expressions

   4. Extend and Summarize

   5. Group and Ungroup

   6. Expression Transformation

   7. Relational Comparisons

   8. More on Relational Assignment

   9. The ORDER BY Operator

   10. Summary

   11. Exercises

6. Chapter Six Integrity Constraints

   1. Type Constraints

   2. Database Constraints

   3. Transactions

   4. Why Database Constraint Checking Must Be Immediate

   5. But Doesn't Some Checking Have to Be Deferred?

   6. Constraints and Predicates

   7. Miscellaneous Issues

   8. Summary

   9. Exercises

7. Chapter Seven Database Design Theory

   1. The Place of Design Theory

   2. Functional Dependencies and Boyce/Codd Normal Form

   3. Join Dependencies and Fifth Normal Form

   4. Two Cheers for Normalization

   5. Orthogonality

   6. Some Remarks on Physical Design

   7. Summary

   8. Exercises

8. Chapter Eight What Is the Relational Model?

   1. The Relational Model Defined

   2. Objectives of the Relational Model

   3. Some Database Principles

   4. The Relational Model Versus Others

   5. What Remains to Be Done?

   6. Summary

   7. Exercises

1. Appendix A A Little Bit of Logic

   1. Propositions

   2. Predicates

   3. Quantification

   4. Free and Bound Variables

   5. More on Quantification

   6. Database Constraints

   7. Queries

   8. Some Equivalences

   9. Summary

2. Appendix Suggestions for Further Reading

3. Colophon

C. J. Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant specializing in relational database systems. He was one of the first persons anywhere to recognize the fundamental importance of Codd's pioneering work on the relational model. He was also involved in technical planning for the IBM products SQL/DS and DB2 at the IBM Santa Teresa Laboratory in San Jose, California. He is best known for his books, in particular An Introduction to Database Systems, Eighth Edition (Addison-Wesley, 2004), the standard text in the field, which has sold nearly three quarters of a million copies worldwide, and (with Hugh Darwen and Nikos A. Lorentzos) Temporal Data and the Relational Model (Morgan Kaufmann, 2003). He enjoys a reputation that is second to none for his ability to explain complex technical material in a clear and understandable fashion.

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects.

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