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See XML Document RequestedRosie says...
When I first came to read the 2nd edition of this book, I was already at an advantage over the casual reader as I'd attended lectures on database theory while studying for my degree in Computer Science.
The reason I went out and bought Access Database Design and Programming was to learn how to apply what I knew in the real world, as I'd little practical experience with using or designing a real relational database. I choose a book on Access programming mainly because I'm an ASP developer and couldn't afford to run the more expensive Microsoft SQL Server just for developing a few site creation helper applications.
The first few chapters were very familiar to me, it was simply going through the same topics we learnt at the University, only presented in a more useable format. It goes through the basics of database design, using a consistent example throughout the book, and covers topics such as identifying entities and their relationships, which is useful for anyone wanting to redesign an old database.
After reading the first few chapters I was able to build my own database, complete with relations, that could not be optimised further by the use of the optimisation wizard. I'm not sure if this was due in part to my prior knowledge or the helpful step by step illustrations, but it was nice to be able to use the book so quickly.
No doubt you've probably read about the problems of using an Access database in the web environment. However, a lot of the knowledge found in the earlier part of the book can be useful to anyone designing a relation database, regardless of their choice of software. Another thing to remember is that Access is more widely available than a lot of other database software programs.
Access Database Design and Programming is probably more suited to those wanting to use Access away from a web environment, as the latter sections concentrate on the use of the Visual Basic Editor that is built in to program. Having said that, it makes a nice introduction to anyone new to designing or programming a database.
- Readability: 5
- Reference: 3
- Reusability: 4
- Examples: 4
- User Level: All
- Score: 16/20
Chapter List
- Part I. Database Design
- Introduction
- The Entity-Relationship Model of a Database
- Implementing Entity-Relationship Models: Relational Databases
- Database Design Principles
- Part II. Database Queries
- Query Languages and the Relational Algebra
- Access Structured Query Language (SQL)
- Part III. Database Architecture
- Database System Architecture
- Part IV. Visual Basic for Applications
- The Visual Basic Editor; Part 1
- The Visual Basic Editor; Part 2
- Variables, Data Types and Constants
- Functions and Subroutines
- Built-in Functions and Statements
- Control Statements
- Part V. Data Access Objects
- Programming DAO: Overview
- Programming DAO: Data Definition Language
- Programming DAO: Data Manipulation Language
- Part VI. ActiveX Data Objects
- ADO and OLE DB
- Part VII. Appendixes
- DAO 3.0/3.5 Collections, Properties and Methods
- the Quotient: An Additional Operation of the Relational Algebra
- Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)
- Obtaining or Creating the Sample Database
- Sugestions for Further Reading
Other Information
The review was based on my copy of the 2nd edition, but the details and links relate to the 3rd edition of the book. Having looked through the content lists of both, it appears the 3rd edition has a few more examples towards the end of the book.
A sample chapter, Database Design Principles, is available from the O'Reilly Web Site. The contents list, book cover image and sample chapter are used with kind permission from O'Reilly.