Current Public Seminars
"I am grateful that Chris is clear on the subjects, and explains them such that they seem fairly simple. This class is one of the high points in my professional life."
"Yes I do think the relational model is deeper after this class. I really enjoyed this class and the instructor presented the material beautifully"
"The course was excellent. It offered an opportunity to hear from a world authority on the relational model. The lecture content, handouts, and presentation style were of the highest quality"
3-Day Seminar
Relational Remodelled
Click here for an in-house quote request or for further information regarding in-house training.
This seminar offers an unrivalled opportunity to hear about some of the most recent developments at the foundations of database technology, from one of the world's foremost advocates and expounders of relational database theory and practice. Much of the material presented is NEW and is not currently available in any other live forum.
It is trite but true to say that the relational model is the foundation of the entire database field. Yet almost no one understands it! We wouldn't think much of an electronics engineer who didn't know Ohm's Law or a chemist who didn't know the periodic table - yet the IT industry seems all too willing to tolerate "database professionals" who are almost completely ignorant of the foundations of their own field (and even brag about their ignorance, in certain cases). No wonder, then, that such spectacular mistakes occur in the design and/or implementation of databases, and database applications, and database products, and database standards (and so on - this is not an exhaustive list).
Part of the problem lies, perhaps, in the all too common misconception that if something is theoretical, it can't be practical (despite the fact that database management is a multi-billion-dollar industry totally founded on one great theoretical idea). Another part of the problem is, perhaps, the fact that most relational presentations - even those by dedicated relational advocates - quite deliberately focus on the model's intuitive simplicity and ignore aspects and implications that might seem esoteric or advanced. Such an emphasis unfortunately does the cause of genuine understanding a grave disservice. The fact is that the relational model is much deeper, more robust, and more important than most people realize.
This seminar examines the relational model in depth. It consists of a series of "closer looks" at various familiar features (e.g., integrity, domains, views, primary keys), together with careful explanations of some less familiar aspects (e.g., nullology, essentiality, expression transformation, "the theory of database relativity"). Overall, the intent is to present a remodeled version of relational theory - one that will help true database professionals understand the relational model in depth and make use of that understanding in their day-to-day database activities.
Learning
Objectives
On completion of this seminar, attendees will:
- Understand why and how the relational model is still directly relevant to modern database technology (and will remain so for as far as anyone can see)
- See why and how the SQL standard is seriously deficient
- Be able to use the best current theoretical knowledge in the design of their databases and database applications
- Be able to make informed decisions in their daily database professional activities
- Have at least an overview perspective on The Third Manifesto and see how it holds hope for the future
1. Preliminaries
- Significance and objectives
- The original model: a review
- Relations vs. relvars
- Values vs. variables
- Model vs. implementation
2. Essentiality
- Data structures
- Relational vs. nonrelational databases
- Ordering
- The Information Principle
3. Domains
- Domains and data types
- "Domain check override"
- Data value atomicity
- Defining domains
4. Relational algebra I: Basics
- Importance of closure
- Importance of attribute naming
- Expression transformation
- Optimization
- The heresy of duplicates
5. Relational algebra II: Extensions
- EXTEND and SUMMARIZE
- Relational comparisons
- Should divide be dropped?
- Recursive queries
- Quota queries
6. Relational integrity I: Keys
- Candidate keys
- Primary and alternate keys
- The primacy of primary keys (?)
7. Relational integrity II: Constraints and predicates
- Constraints are predicates
- When are constraints checked?
- Internal vs. external predicates
- Correctness vs. consistency
- A constraint classification scheme
- A formal perspective
8. Relations
- Relations are n-dimensional
- Kinds of relations
- The theory of database relativity
9. The relational model is set-level
- Retrieval operations
- Update operations
- Tuple-level operations (?)
- Some implications
10. Nullology
- Empty types
- Empty relations
- Empty headings
- Empty operand lists
- Empty partitions of headings
- Empty determinants and keys
11. Missing information
- Various kinds of null
- UNK, unk, and three-valued logic (3VL)
- Consequences of the 3VL approach
- SQL's implementation of 3VL
- Outer join
- Further thoughts
- The "special values" scheme
12. Relation-valued attributes (RVAs)
- RVAs are legal!
- RVAs and outer join
- RVAs and relational comparisons
- RVAs and database design
13. Database design I: Some remarks on normalization
- The "difficult" normal forms
- A new definition of BCNF
- Normalization is not a panacea ...
- ... but don't denormalize!
- New normalization theorems
14. Database design II: More science!
- Examples of bad design
- Overlapping meanings
- The Principle of Orthogonal Design
- Some implications
15. Views
- View updating: general remarks
- Some fundamental principles
- Union, intersection, and difference views
- Other views: a little heresy!
16. What IS the relational model?
- Summary
- Precise definition
- Five components
- Relational remodeled
Appendix: The Third Manifesto
- Background
- RM prescriptions and proscriptions
- OO prescriptions and proscriptions
- RM and OO suggestions
- Future directions
Materials
Attendees will receive a workbook containing copies of the speaker's
slides, together with a selection of technical papers and other background
reading material.
- DBMS designers, implementers, and other vendor personnel
- Database consultants
- Data and database administrators
- Information modelers and database designers
- Database application designers and implementers
- Computer science professors specializing in database matters
- Database students, both graduate and undergraduate
- People responsible for DBMS product evaluation and acquisition
This highly intensive seminar is not meant for beginners: Attendees will be expected to have a basic knowledge of the relational model (though this material will be briefly reviewed at the outset). They should also be able to understand simple SQL coding examples.
In-House Training
If you require a quote for running an in-house course,
please contact us with the following details:
- Subject matter and/or speaker required
- Estimated number of delegates
- Location (town, country)
- Number of days required (if different from the public course)
- Preferred date
Please contact:
Jeanette Hall
E-mail: jeanette.hall@irmuk.co.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)20 8866 8366
Fax: +44 (0)1923 828 770
Speaker: Chris Date
C. J. Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database technology. He is best known for his book An Introduction to Database Systems (seventh edition published in 2000), which has sold well over 650,000 copies and is used by several hundred colleges and universities worldwide. He is also the author of many other books on database management, including most recently Foundation for Future Database Systems: The Third Manifesto (2nd edition, coauthored with Hugh Darwen); The Database Relational Model: A Retrospective Review and Analysis; WHAT Not HOW: The Business Rules Approach to Application Development (all published by Addison-Wesley in 2000); and Temporal Data and the Relational Model (coauthored with Hugh Darwen and Nikos A. Lorentzos, published by Morgan Kaufmann in 2003). Mr. Date enjoys a reputation that is second to none for his ability to communicate complex technical subjects in a clear and understandable fashion.