Powerful database systems running on all platforms from PCs to mainframes are vital for the success of modern companies and institutions. This book will enable users to design database systems that are flexible and efficient, following a proven methodology for both logical and physical database design. Highlights of the book include * A step-by-step methodology for logical database design, integrating the Entity Relationship Model with normalization, and showing how to map this on to a physical implementation * A realistic case study integrated throughout the book, illustrating all stages in the development process * Extensive treatment of formal and de facto standards, including SQL, QBE and the ODMG standard for object databases * A clear introduction to implementation and management aspects, including concurrency and recovery control, security and integrity * Comprehensive chapters on distributed and object-oriented databases, including a preview of SQL3 The practical, hands-on approach will benefit students in computing, information systems, engineering and business, while its industrial-strength methodology can be followed by systems analysts/designers, systems or application programmers, and database adm inistrators. All three authors have experience of database design in industry, and now apply this in their teaching and research at the University of Paisley in Scotland. Thomas Connolly has significant industrial experience and was a designer of RAPPORT, the world's first commercial portable DBMS, and of the LIFESPAN configuration management tool -- a winner of the British Design Award. Carolyn Begg specializes in the application of database systems in the medical domain, while Anne Strachan focuses on problems associated with large diverse data sets in organizations. 0201422778B04062001