Databases

Essential books for database programmers in the field of data warehousing.

  • Fundamentals of Data Warehouses

    Fundamentals of Data Warehouses

    by Matthias Jarke, Maurizio Lenzerini, Yannis Vassiliou, Panos Vassiliadis

    5 stars

    Still the best introduction to the subject

    This was (many years ago) my introduction to data warehousing and dimensional modeling. It has opened my eyes. Today as a specialist in the field, I can say that this is one of the best introduction to the topic of dimensional modeling. The book strikes a good balance between theory and practice. It’s sufficiently generic to apply to any underlying technology (it’s not Oracle, Essbase, Sybase, Netezza specific) yet grouded in practical application. Rightly so, the author builds a strong case for efficient browsing of data with a strong emphasis is on rich dimensions. Excellent way to learn to design good star schemas.

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  • The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling (Second Edition)

    The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Complete Guide to Dimensional Modeling (Second Edition)

    by Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross

    5 stars

    Real hands-on over multiple industries

    This book is not so much a learning tool than a reference though it may serve as both once you have the proper background to understand the design choices that the author makes. The great thing about this book is that it's a recipe book across industries. You get actual table designs that work (I've used some of them). Further more, the designs are not just thrown at you but developed and explained including some variations when appropriate. After a good introduction, this book will jump-start your knowledge on data warehousing.

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  • Expert One-on-One Oracle

    Expert One-on-One Oracle

    by Thomas Kyte

    4 stars

    The best Oracle book if your not a DBA

    If you work extensively with Oracle then you know that there are many of your implementation decisions will greatly affect the performance of the code you write. Without dwelling into each Oracle parameter (this is really DBA stuff), Kytes explains the advantages and trade-offs of these decisions. Some of the topics covered are clustering, index organized tables, heap tables, partitioning, indexing, data loading, analytical functions, transactions, ... If you get only one book about Oracle performance I would take this one. It would be nice though if it could be updated to take into account features upto Oracle 11g.

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