Introduction to the Relational Model and ANSI SQL

Relational database management systems (RDBMS) such as those covered on this website are the principal engines of structured data systems worldwide. They enable a multitude of users to quickly and simultaneously access, create, edit, and manipulate data without impacting other users. And they enable developers to write useful applications to access their data while providing administrators with the consistent and reliable capabilities they need to maintain, secure, and optimize organizational data resources. An RDBMS may be defined as a system whose users view data as a collection of tables … [Read more...]

What Is a Relational Database?

Relational?!? Move On, Geezer! Maybe you're thinking that relational databases management systems (RDBMSs), like Microsoft SQL Server and Oracle, are going the way of punched cards and rotary phones.  After all, there's been a lot of hype these days in the IT media about the rise of so-called NoSQL (Not Only SQL) databases.  Many new and upcoming CS and MIS graduates who like working with data might think that relational databases are, at best, soon-to-be legacy systems and, at worst, are a career dead-end. Wrong!!! It's true that all the cool-cat computing services (Amazon, Facebook, … [Read more...]