1. What is a database? In the widest possible sense, any collection of data can be called a “database”. Examples, then, are the University Library, a telephone book, or the World Wide Web. In a narrower sense we use the word “database” to refer to a computer-based collection of non-perishable data. We can no longer use the library as an example, but there are still many different kinds of databases in this sense: a single file, or a directory of files, or the World Wide Web. The adjective “non-perishable” is important as it...

Contents (45 pages)
1 Introduction to the relational data model and simple SQL queries
2 Querying a database with SQL
3 Aggregate and nested queries
4 Selecting information from more than one table
5 Entity-Relationship Modelling
6 Extensions to the basic Entity-Relationship model
7 Logical design: Translating ER diagrams into SQL “CREATE” statements
8 Relational algebra and functional dependencies
9 Normalisation
10 Physical design