Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz

© C. J. Date 2019

C. J. DateDatabase Design and Relational Theoryhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5540-7_2

2. Prerequisites

C. J. Date¹ 

(1)

Healdsburg, California, USA

 

The world is everything that is the case.

—Ludwig Wittgenstein: Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus (1921)

You’re supposed to be a database professional, by which I mean someone who (a) is a database practitioner and (b) has a reasonable degree of familiarity with relational theory. Please note that—I’m sorry to have to say this, but it’s true—a knowledge of SQL, no matter how deep, is not sufficient to satisfy part (b) of this requirement. As I said in SQL and Relational Theory:

• I’m sure you know something about SQL; but—and I apologize for the possibly offensive tone here—if your knowledge ...