Book
Riron kara Manabu Database Jissen Nyumon (Learning Databases from Theory)
Efficient SQL through the Relational Model
Mikiya Okuno
Summary
A Japanese-language introduction to relational databases by Mikiya Okuno, whose subtitle states its aim as efficient SQL by way of the relational model. The thirteen chapters open with SQL and the relational model, then with predicate logic, and take normalization theory in two parts: functional dependency and join dependency. From there they turn to the orthogonality of relations and to strategies for designing domains. A chapter on NULL addresses the three-valued logic it brings into queries and the bugs that follow from it. The remaining chapters carry the theory into everyday work: mastering SELECT, working with historical data, handling graph structures, index design strategy, the nature of transactions, and refactoring.
Target Readers
- Engineers who can already write SQL and want the relational model underneath it, from predicate logic through functional and join dependency
- Developers who want to decide when to normalize and when not to from the theory, rather than by rule of thumb
- Readers who keep running into NULL-related query bugs and want to understand the three-valued logic that produces them
Tags
Colophon
- Publisher
- Gijutsu-Hyohron
- ISBN
- 978-4774171975
- Published
- Mar 2015
- List price
- ¥3,168incl. taxMay differ from the actual selling price on Amazon
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Prerequisites
- Recommended
SQL, 2nd Edition
Working with Databases, Starting from Zero
Mick
Reason: After you can make SQL 'run', the next goal is to internalize why tables are split this way and why we normalize—grounded in relational theory. Okuno's book reconstructs Codd's relational model in practitioner's terms, giving your syntax knowledge a theoretical backbone.
- Related
Relational Database Nyumon, 3rd Edition (An Introduction to Relational Databases)
Data Models, SQL, Management Systems, and NoSQL
Yoshifumi Masunaga
Reason: After grasping relational algebra and normal forms academically in Masunaga's textbook, verify in Okuno's more practice-oriented book how that theory informs real SQL and design decisions. It connects academic rigor with field practicality, turning theory into 'usable knowledge'.
Next Books
- Prerequisite
Tatsujin ni Manabu DB Sekkei Tettei Shinansho, 2nd Edition (A Thorough Guide to DB Design, Learned from an Expert)
Mick
Reason: Once you have internalized relational and normalization theory, the next stage is translating it into real table design. This Japanese book concretizes theory—normalization, primary keys, foreign keys—into the practical steps of logical and physical design, bridging theory and practice. Hence it is placed as a required prerequisite.
- Recommended
Tatsujin ni Manabu SQL Tettei Shinansho, 2nd Edition (A Thorough Guide to SQL, Learned from an Expert)
For Those Who Do Not Want to Remain Beginners
Mick
Reason: Grasping relational theory first makes the set operations and window functions in this advanced SQL guide land as the logical necessity of 'why think in sets'. Reading theory → implementation lets you derive each advanced SQL technique from first principles rather than memorizing it ad hoc.
- Related
SQL Antipatterns, Volume 1
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Database Programming
Bill Karwin
Reason: Understanding the relational model and normalization theory lets you read each failure in Karwin's 'SQL Antipatterns' through the lens of 'which theoretical principle it violates'. Knowing the theory lets you judge why an anti-pattern is bad from first principles, turning it into transferable knowledge rather than memorization.