Re: Where do I start?

I would advise against buying books. Books always reflect the approach of the author to the subject, and his approach is usually a lot different than yours...

Why buy a $50 book, all it is is the author's understanding of papers published in the field. You can download (most) of the research papers directly off the web. Ie. start by reading Codd's 'A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks', which jumpstarted relational thoery at http://www.scism.sbu.ac.uk/~rmkemp/codd1970.pdf

Than, as you go, you'll find other topics that interest you, and you will look for publications on that (use google, citeseer, etc.).

Maro

t0rk_at_hotmail.com (Chad) wrote in message news:<d84201cc.0207251539.3418f251_at_posting.google.com>...
> .
>
> Hello,
>
> I have always been fascinated by databases and I would like to learn
> how to program my own database and build my own customs applications.
>
> I am having hard time starting. My gut tells me to install MySQL or
> PostGresQL and learn as I go. I am also told that Cold Fusion would
> be a great database to learn and it will be around for a long time. I
> am not sure which would be the right path for me to take for what I
> want to accomplish. I would like to build web based databases that
> have a nice pretty front end with a rock solid back end.
>
> I guess my real question is where is the best place to start learning
> the foundations of databases. Should I learn C, C++? What
> tools/skills do I need to be a excellent database programmer?
>
> I am open to suggested classes, books, databases, programming
> languages and whatever else would help me.
>
> MAny Thanks,
>
> Chad
Received on Mon Aug 05 2002 - 00:20:39 CEST