Why schemas and not code?

[Adrian Howard]

On 30 Jun 2006, at 13:39, Paul Makepeace wrote:

> On 6/30/06, Adrian Howard <adrianh at quietstars.com> wrote:
>>
>> On 30 Jun 2006, at 10:18, Jurgen Pletinckx wrote:
>> [snip]
>> > So, if I wanted to educate this friend of mine, what books
>> > should I get myself? That is, I mean, him?
>> [snip]
>>
>> I like Joe Celko's books (SQL for Smarties is good).
>
> This, and "Practical SQL" are the only SQL books I've found worth
> bothering with.
>
> SQL for Smarties gets pretty heavy but Practical SQL ought to bring
> you up to the level where SfS is comprehendible.

One other book that I'd recommend is the first half of Oracle Design  
(O'Reilly - Dave Ensor, Ian Stevenson) . It has a nice gentle  
introducing to the various N-normal forms all illustrated with  
examples as to why they help. A good introduction.

(the second half is good too - but is a little out of date and Oracle  
specific.)

Adrian