Suggested Reading?

[bitterpants]

Im working on a site where some of the content will be dynamically generated based on a username/pass provided by the user. Im planning on using ASP to do this because ASP is currently what I have the best grasp of. I know that I will need some sort of database to store the username/pass combinations and the content that will be associated to them. <<i hope im explaining this well enough>> I honestly dont know anything about databases, with the exception of the idea that they hold data in tables which can be read and updated through scripts. <<and on to the point>> Can someone suggest a book or 2 or 12 which can help me get a grasp on the whole thing?

much appreciated.

jen

[EscapeCharacter]

well the book ive been using is active server pages 3.0(ISBN 1-861002-61-0) its pretty decent and doesnt really get into much about database design or what could be used for a db but it teaches you the connection strings for the various databases and how to move through record sets that you retrieve. im assumming you are just going to be using an access database(which would be simplest), but if you want to actually learn how dbs work and want to use a more featureful db, than i would also recommend getting Modern System analysis and design, its really dry and boring but if you want to really learn about databases its gonna be boring no matter what book you have(especially when you get into nomalizing :)). if you want more let me know ill try to think of something else.

[bitterpants]

yeah, i already have a book on ASP thats quite good and it does go into all that. 'Modern System analysis and design' is this the title of the book? i guess what i need is something on database theory (in general, and condensed i supose since i know you can take an entire class on that) and something that would put me into a position to make an informed decision about what sorta db i want to use, etc.

thanks.

[EscapeCharacter]

the thing about database books is most if not all of them are geared towards a certain database and there arent many good generalized books on the subject. so to really figure out which db you want to use you are just going to have to try them out. like if you wanted a db that could handle huge loads you would use db2 or oracle(these are best for production dbs), since you are really just going for a web db it would be best to look at using access(very crappy in my opinion), mysql(fast and easy to install, run, config, etc), or my favorite postgresql(only runs on *nix variants though). but back to the point i would really recommend -getting Modern System analysis and design(ISBN 0-201-33841-6) for just general intro to design but when you settle on the db you want to use you will simply have to get a book geared toward that specific db. when you decide that, oreilly.com has many wonderful books on access, mysql, and postgresql, but if you want to go to the highend, oracle press has a couple good books, and db2 i really havent had much experience with this one, but amazon.com has tons of books on the one.

[bitterpants]

that helps a bunch. thanks.

[gish]

what db are you using?

[bitterpants]

thats the rub. i have yet to decide as im not in a position to make an informed decison. since my original post, ive almost decided to not use ASP because the site is already on a *nix machine.

[gish]

:sob:

k...fine then...ahha
good idea....i mean unless you wanna go windows!!!.... then I could help....oh well...

:)

[EscapeCharacter]

Originally posted by bitterpants
ive almost decided to not use ASP because the site is already on a *nix machine.

heh cool asp is ugly anyways

[gish]

define ugly.....
:plot:

[Strike]

okay,
ugly: see ASP

:D

[EscapeCharacter]

Originally posted by Strike
okay,
ugly: see ASP

:D

thank you strike :)

[El Paso]

For learning ASP, there are a plethora of websites with good tutorials on this subject. Also, the Wrox book "(Beginning|Professional) Active Server Pages 3.0" would be a good choice (depending on what you need).

As far as database design goes ... it's a very difficult thing to do. I suggest you look into the Rules of Normalization*(http://www.datamodel.org/NormalizationRules.html ), get comfortable with the idea of managing (adding/editing/deleting) records in a database, as a start to your database design instruction.



* Just the first three; the last two are for extreme cases