戴特（Data,C.J.）所著的《数据库设计与关系理论(影印版)》回答了如下问题：为什么Heath定理如此重要？什么是正交设计原则为什么有些联合检测可以规约而另一些不行？依赖保持性有什么作用？需要总是避免数据冗余吗？可能吗？本书为你展示了如何使用重要的理论知识来创建良好的数据库设计。

是什么让这本书从数据库设计的相关书籍中脱颖而出？很多讨论设计实践的书籍很少讲解内在理论知识，而讨论设计理论的书籍却又主要针对理论工作者。在戴特（Data,C.J.）所著的《数据库设计与关系理论(影印版)》中，著名专家C．J．Date以从业者可以理解的方式来讲解设计理论，弥补了前述的不足。该书以作者四十多年的经验教训总结而成，阐述了为什么恰当的设计在初始阶段如此重要。

《数据库设计与关系理论(影印版)》的每一章都包含一组练习，它或者展示了如何把理论知识应用到实践中，或者提供了更多的信息，或者要求你验证一些简单的理论结果。如果你非常熟悉数据库的关系模式，并且你希望深入了解数据库设计，那么这本书就完全适合你。

Preface

PART I SETTING THE SCENE

Chapter 1 Preliminaries

 Some quotes from the literature

 A note on terminology

 The running example

 Keys

 The place of design theory

 Aims of this book

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

Chapter 2 Prerequisites

 Overview

 Relations and relvars

 Predicates and propositions

 More on suppliers and parts

 Exercises

PART II FUNCTIONAL DEPENDENCIES, BOYCE/CODD NORMAL FORM,

 AND RELATED MATTERS

Chapter 3 Normalization: Some Generalities

 Normalization serves two purposes

 Update anomalies

 The normal form hierarchy

 Normalization and constraints

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

Chapter 4 FDs and BCNF (Informal)

 First normal form

 Functional dependencies

 Keys rex, isited

 Second normal form

 Third normal form

 Boyce/Codd normal form

 Exercises

Chapter 5 FDs and BCNF (Formal)

 Preliminary definitions

 Functional dependencies

 Boyce/Codd normal form

 Heath's Theorem

 Exercises

Chapter 6 Preserving FDs

 An unfortunate conflict

 Another example

 ... And another

 ... And still another

 A procedure that works

 Identity decompositions

 More on the conflict

 Independent projections

 Exercises

Chapter 7 FD Axiomatization

 Armstrong's axioms

 Additional rules

 Proving the additional rules

 Another kind of closure

 Exercises

Chapter 8 Denormalization

 "Denormalize for performance"?

 What does denormalization mean?

 What denormalization isn't (I)

 What denormalization isn't (II)

 Denormalization considered harmful (I)

 Denormalization considered harmful (II)

 A final remark

 Exercises

PART III JOIN DEPENDENCIES, FIFTH NORMAL FORM,

 AND RELATED MATTERS

Chapter 9 JDs and 5NF (Informal)

 Join dependencies--the basic idea

 A relvar in BCNF and not 5NF

 Cyclic rules

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

Chapter 10 JDs and 5NF (Formal)

 Join dependencies

 Fifth normal form

 JDs implied by keys

 A useful theorem

 FDs aren't JDs

 Update anomalies revisited

 Exercises

Chapter 11 Implicit Dependencies

 Irrelevant components

 Combining components

 Irreducible JDs

 Summary so far

 The chase algorithm

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

Chapter 12 MVDs and 4NF

 An introductory example

 Multivalued dependencies (informal)

 Multivalued dependencies (formal)

 Fourth normal form

 Axiomatization

 Embedded dependencies

 Exercises

Chapter 13 Additional Normal Forms

 Equality dependencies

 Sixth normal form

 Superkey normal form

 Redundancy free normal form

 Domain-key normal form

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

PART IV ORTHOGONALITY

Chapter 14 The Principle of Orthogonal Design

 Two cheers for normalization

 A motivating example

 A simpler example

 Tuples vs. propositions

 The firstexample revisited

 The second example revisited

 The final version

 A clarification

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

PART V REDUNDANCY

Chapter 15 We Need More Science

 A little history

 Database design is predicate design

 Example 1

 Example 2

 Example 3

 Example 4

 Example 5

 Example 6

 Example 7

 Example 8

 Example 9

 Example 10

 Example 11

 Example 12

 Managing redundancy

 Refining the definition

 Concluding remarks

 Exercises

 APPENDIXES

Appendix A Primary Keys Are Nice but Not Essential

 Arguments in favor of the PK:AK distinction

 Relvars with more than one key

 The invoices and shipments example

 One primary key per entity type?

 The applicants and employees example

 Concluding remarks

Appendix B Redundancy Revisited

Appendix C Historical Notes

Appendix D Answers to Exercises

 Chapter 1

 Chapter 2

 Chapter 3

 Chapter 4

 Chapter 5

 Chapter 6

 Chapter 7

 Chapter 8

 Chapter 9

 Chapter 10

 Chapter 11

 Chapter 12

 Chapter 13

 Chapter 14

 Chapter 15

 Index