Database Systems: A Pragmatic Approach is a classroom textbook for use by students who are learning about relational databases, and the professors who teach them. It discusses the database as an essential component of a software system, as well as a valuable, mission critical corporate resource. The book is based on lecture notes that have been tested and proven over several years, with outstanding results. It also exemplifies mastery of the technique of combining and balancing theory with practice, to give students their best chance at success. Upholding his aim for brevity, comprehensive coverage, and relevance, author Elvis C. Foster's practical and methodical discussion style gets straight to the salient issues, and avoids unnecessary fluff as well as an overkill of theoretical calculations. The book discusses concepts, principles, design, implementation, and management issues of databases. Each chapter is organized systematically into brief, reader-friendly sections, with itemization of the important points to be remembered. It adopts a methodical and pragmatic approach to solving database systems problems. Diagrams and illustrations also sum up the salient points to enhance learning. Additionally, the book includes a number of Foster's original methodologies that add clarity and creativity to the database modeling and design experience while making a novel contribution to the discipline. Everything combines to make Database Systems: A Pragmatic Approach an excellent textbook for students, and an excellent resource on theory for the practitioner.