Re: A database theory resource - ideas


"Bob Badour" <bbadour@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:CKKKh.11344$PV3.117030@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<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.


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