A Functional Database

* Treats LISP as a language for commercial applications, not a language for academic AI concerns. This could be considered to be a secondary text for the Lisp course that most schools teach . This would appeal to students who sat through a LISP course in college without quite getting it – so a "nostalgia" approach, as in "wow-lisp can be practical..." * Discusses the Lisp programming model and environment. Contains an introduction to the language and gives a thorough overview of all of Common Lisp’s main features. * Designed for experienced programmers no matter what languages they may be coming from and written for a modern audience—programmers who are familiar with languages like Java, Python, and Perl. * Includes several examples of working code that actually does something useful like Web programming and database access.

This textbook examines database systems from the viewpoint of a software developer. This perspective makes it possible to investigate why database systems are the way they are. It is of course important to be able to write queries, but it is equally important to know how they are processed. We e.g. don’t want to just use JDBC; we also want to know why the API contains the classes and methods that it does. We need a sense of how hard is it to write a disk cache or logging facility. And what exactly is a database driver, anyway? The first two chapters provide a brief overview of database systems and their use. Chapter 1 discusses the purpose and features of a database system and introduces the Derby and SimpleDB systems. Chapter 2 explains how to write a database application using Java. It presents the basics of JDBC, which is the fundamental API for Java programs that interact with a database. In turn, Chapters 3-11 examine the internals of a typical database engine. Each chapter covers a different database component, starting with the lowest level of abstraction (the disk and file manager) and ending with the highest (the JDBC client interface); further, the respective chapter explains the main issues concerning the component, and considers possible design decisions. As a result, the reader can see exactly what services each component provides and how it interacts with the other components in the system. By the end of this part, s/he will have witnessed the gradual development of a simple but completely functional system. The remaining four chapters then focus on efficient query processing, and focus on the sophisticated techniques and algorithms that can replace the simple design choices described earlier. Topics include indexing, sorting, intelligent buffer usage, and query optimization. This text is intended for upper-level undergraduate or beginning graduate courses in Computer Science. It assumes that the reader is comfortable with basic Java programming; advanced Java concepts (such as RMI and JDBC) are fully explained in the text. The respective chapters are complemented by “end-of-chapter readings” that discuss interesting ideas and research directions that went unmentioned in the text, and provide references to relevant web pages, research articles, reference manuals, and books. Conceptual and programming exercises are also included at the end of each chapter. Students can apply their conceptual knowledge by examining the SimpleDB (a simple but fully functional database system created by the author and provided online) code and modifying it.

For programmers who prefer content to frills, this guide has succinct and straightforward information for putting Access to its full, individually tailored use.

It is over 20 years since the functional data model and functional programming languages were first introduced to the computing community. Although developed by separate research communities, recent work, presented in this book, suggests there is powerful synergy in their integration. As database technology emerges as central to yet more complex and demanding applications in areas such as bioinformatics, national security, criminal investigations and advanced engineering, more sophisticated approaches like those presented here, are needed. A tutorial introduction by the editors prepares the reader for the chapters that follow, written by leading researchers, including some of the early pioneers. They provide a comprehensive treatment showing how the functional approach provides for modeling, analyzis and optimization in databases, and also data integration and interoperation in heterogeneous environments. Several chapters deal with mathematical results on the transformation of expressions, fundamental to the functional approach. The book also aims to show how the approach relates to the Internet and current work on semistructured data, XML and RDF. The book presents a comprehensive view of the functional approach to data management, bringing together important material hitherto widely scattered, some new research, and a comprehensive set of references. It will serve as a valuable resource for researchers, faculty and graduate students, as well as those in industry responsible for new systems development.

The second edition of this bestselling title is a perfect blend of theoretical knowledge and practical application. It progresses gradually from basic to advance concepts in database management systems, with numerous solved exercises to make learning easier and interesting. New to this edition are discussions on more commercial database management systems.

Because databases often stay in production for decades, careful design is critical to making the database serve the needs of your users over years, and to avoid subtle errors or performance problems. In this book, C.J. Date, a leading exponent of relational databases, lays out the principles of good database design.