Re: A database theory resource - ideas

"Bob Badour" <bbadour_at_pei.sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:CKKKh.11344$PV3.117030_at_ursa-nb00s0.nbnet.nb.ca...

<snippage>

>> I wholeheartedly agree. Computer science publishing is not what it once
>> was.
>
> If it ever was what it once was, it was before my time.
>

I view the period 1960-1980 as the "Golden Age" of computer science publishing. It was in this time frame when Knuth, Date, et al began their writing careers. 1980 saw the transition to PCs and the beginning of the decline.

I bought my first "serious" computer book circa 1975, Madnick and Donovan's "Operating Systems", for a whopping $14.95. Still got it! ;-)

>
>> Some examples of the ("classic" or current, database-related or
>> otherwise) one percent that doesn't suck are ...?
>
> For relational dbmses, look for names like: Date, Pascal, McGoveran,
> White, Darwen
>
> For the physical level, look for names like: Shasha, Garcia-Molina,
> Ullman, Widom, Gray
>
> Other useful names to look for include Fagin, Kent
>

Except for Fagin, I actually own books by the above authors. Read and studied most, dipped into the rest as time has allowed.

> There are other useful names but you will never find anything written by
> them at your local bookstore.
>
> If you are lucky, at any given time, you might find a single copy of two
> or so good books on the racks buried in a sea of wasted wood pulp.
>
> I haven't spent as much time in bookstores the last three or four years so
> I have no idea if any new entrants have emerged.
>

I've given up on the local chains; cruising Amazon and Abebooks is easier and cheaper.

> On the programming side of things, one can look for names like Sipser,
> Knuth, Dijkstra, Plauger, Cargill, Stroustrop, Maguire, Ullman again, Aho,
> Ritchie, Kernighan, a bunch more from both Bell Labs and Xerox PARC. While
> things are much better on the programming side, the signal to noise ratio
> is still abysmal.

Except for Sipser, all of these authors have a place on my shelves also.

An excellent list. Perhaps you should suggest some specific titles to JOG to be included in a recommended reading list.

>
>
>>>Even as vocational training books, they suck.
>>>
>>>Teach fundamentals and principles. Start small and build. Anything else
>>>is a waste or worse.
>>
>> "We don't need no stinkin' principles. We gotta get that app out
>> /yesterday!" *Sigh*
>
> There is one way your suggestion might have some merit: programmed
> learning. I vaguely recall Fabian might have once been involved in some
> CBT material based on the principle. The approach works great for english
> grammar (see _English 3200_
> http://www.eric.ed.gov/sitemap/html_0900000b800c0812.html
> http://www.eric.ed.gov/sitemap/html_0900000b800bdd24.html), and I assume
> one could make it work for data management.
>
> However, even more effective than data management, I think a course in
> programmed learning might work to improve logic, empiricism, overcoming
> cognitive pitfalls etc. Imagine a programmed course of learning that
> teaches the lessons taught in _Uncommon Sense_, _How We Know What Isn't
> So_, _A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper_, _Darwin's Dangerous Idea_, and
> the Sokal Affair.

Or maybe just read the books themselves? :-)

>
> Programmed learning works more on the basis of questions and answers than
> on examples, though, and it definitely follows the principle of start
> small and build.

My main complaint in re CBT/programmed learning is that it is so slow, compared to reading and studying a text in the usual way. But that could just be me. Received on Sat Mar 17 2007 - 20:55:01 CET