On 8/13/07, Jonathan Horne <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > i finally have a real need that i need to sit down and learn the basics of > databases. i need to learn to create a database that i can use to track > assets at my company, and have it be readable/updatable from a web > interface > (and hopefully also export data to .csv). > > can someone recommend a book that i might learn this from? ill be > starting > from total db-novice.
One more thing. In general, the practical issues (getting simple projects to work) are covered in a book like "Beginning Databases with MySQL", but for the theoretical issues, it might be best for you to take a course or two at a local university. For example, understanding the performance impact of indexes requires understanding a little about O(N), O(log N), etc. Here are some things that are relevant: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_index http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_O_notation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btree In general, you strive to make every database operation perform no worse than O(log N) as the database grows. Understanding how to do this requires a bit of theory. I don't think you'd find that in a book like "Beginning Databases with MySQL". Dave.