Ramakrishnan R., Gehrke J. Database management systems

McGraw-Hill, 2003. – 1097 p. – 3rd ed. – ISBN: 0072465638, 978-0072465631Database Management Systems provides comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of the fundamentals of database systems. Coherent explanations and practical examples have made this one of the leading texts in the field. The third edition continues in this tradition, enhancing it with more practical material.
The new edition has been reorganized to allow more flexibility in the way the course is taught. Now, instructors can easily choose whether they would like to teach a course which emphasizes database application development or a course that emphasizes database systems issues. New overview chapters at the beginning of parts make it possible to skip other chapters in the part if you don't want the detail.
More applications and examples have been added throughout the book, including SQL and Oracle examples. The applied flavor is further enhanced by the two new database applications chapters.
Authors of the book have badly failed in properly covering the topics based on clear and formal definitions of fundamental database concepts. Many topics were not dealth with by the authors comprehensively and lack focus too. The book is full of hundreds of lines of explanation that require another expanation. It is true that this book is more like a puzzle for you to put together in order to make heads or tails of what the topic really is all about.
This book seems appealing, however, to the instructors, for the authors have provided them with supplementary material that mainly includes lecture slides, complete solutions to problems in the book, and some examination papers.