Book Club
Book Review
Book Club
Title: MySQL and MSQL
Author: George Reese, Randy Jay Yarger, Tim King, Hugh E. Williams
Publisher: O'Reilly
ISBN: 0596002114
Review:
Why read about MySQL and mSQL? First, you need to understand the book MySQL and mSQL is about an open-source database for small to medium-sized organizations. Yes, open sourceĀ read FREE! Used mostly with a web server, these databases are more powerful then Microsoft Access yet not as powerful as an enterprise database such as Oracle. However, both MySQL and mSQL are competent alternatives to costly commercial, for-profit database management systems (DBMS). Reading chapter 7 will help you understand the differences between both of these databases and other database systems such as Oracle.
The book is basically organized into three parts. The first section is an introduction to the databases with information helpful in deciding which DBMS to select, fundamentals of database design, and information on installing the products. This is the section I was really interested in reading because I was uncertain if I even wanted to use these databases. The second part of the book describes the development of applications using data that is managed by MySQL or mSQL. Typically, a web browser provides the front-end for these applications. Extensive examples illustrate how to create your web interface to the MySQL or mSQL data. The last part of the book is devoted to reference sources.
The book is well written and readable for a beginner. The book is not a database design manual and minimal information on designing a database structure is brief, but provides enough information to set-up a data structure for a database. The examples of application development appear to be mostly a number of code snippets. I would not use this book as a source for building applications and suspect there are books better suited to app development.
In summary, IMHO this book is well-suited for beginners and those just interested in determining if either MySQL or mSQL or another database will suit their needs.
Review by:
Bill Valvo
January 6, 2004
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