This book touches on an area seldom explored: the mathematical underpinnings of the relational database. The topic is important, but far too often ignored. This is the first book to explain the underlying math in a way that's accessible to database professionals. Just as importantly, if not more so, this book goes beyond the abstract by showing readers how to apply that math in ways that will make them more productive in their jobs. The authors are widely recognized in the database world, and there is a technical review and foreword by C.J. Date, foremost world authority on relational theory. What's in this book will "open the eyes" of most readers to the great power, elegance, and simplicity inherent in relational database technology.

Authors are widely recognized in the database world Technical review and foreword by C.J. Date, foremost world authority on relational theory Author (and editor) affiliations with the Oak Table Network, and author presentations, will help promote this book and keep it in the public eye

Autorentext
Lex de Haan studied applied mathematics at the University of Technology in Delft, the Netherlands. His experience with Oracle goes back to the mid-1980s, version 4. He worked for Oracle Corporation from 1990 to 2004 in various education-related roles, ending up in Server Technologies (product development) as senior curriculum manager for the advanced database administration curriculum. In that role, he was involved in the development of Oracle9i and Oracle Database 10g. In March 2004, he decided to go independent and founded Natural Join B.V. (http://www.naturaljoin.nl). From 1999 until his passing in 2006, he was involved in the ISO SQL language standardization process, as a member of the Dutch national body. He was also one of the founding members of the OakTable network (http://www.oaktable.net).

Inhalt
The Mathematics.- Logic: Introduction.- Set Theory: Introduction.- Some More Logic.- Relations and Functions.- The Application.- Tables and Database States.- Tuple, Table, and Database Predicates.- Specifying Database Designs.- Specifying State Transition Constraints.- Data Retrieval.- Data Manipulation.- The Implementation.- Implementing Database Designs in Oracle.- Summary and Conclusions.