Database Design for Mere Mortals

This hands-on guide walks readers through relational database design from the ground up, assuming no prior expertise. It explains how to gather requirements, identify the information a system must store, and turn that information into a well-organized set of tables. Along the way it covers keys, the relationships that connect tables, and normalization, the process of arranging data to reduce redundancy and errors. The book is aimed at people who need to build or maintain a database without a background in computer science, such as students, analysts, and small business staff. Its approach is practical, using worked examples to show how design choices affect the data a database can hold and the questions it can answer.