Recommended Reading List

This page maintains my list of recommended reading if you are interested in learning about databases.

This is very much work in progress - so check back here later for more.

• Dan Tow: "Generating Optimal Execution Plans"
  • A great resource to answer the question: What query plan do you want to get?
• Anjo Kolk: "Yet another Performance Profiling Method" (Slide Share)
  • The YAPP method is still a great way to view database performance and this provides a good introduction.
• Ralph Kimball: "The Data Warehouse Toolkit: The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling"
  • This is the book that kicked off the entire dimensional modelling.
  • Read it and it's related books
• Donald Knuth: "The Art of Computer Programming"
  • No Computer Scientist's book shelf is complete without this - the holy book of CS
  • You don't have to read it from one end to another - if there is a basic algorithms worth knowing about, it will be here
• Nir Shavit, Maurice Herlihy, Victor Luchango and Michael Spear: "The Art of Multiprocessor Programming"
  • If you are going to write concurrent code, you need to read this book
• Dmitry Vyukov: 1024 Cores (blog)
  • An extraordinary blog about writing concurrent code.
  • Very useful resources on Lock Free Programming.
  • Love the author's way of writing
• Dmitry Korotkevitch: "Pro SQL Server Internals"
  • Learn how SQL Server does things under the hood. As of this writing, SQL Server is the mostly widely adopted database on the planet - so they must be doing something right that you can learn about
• Jonathan Lewis: "Oracle Core: Essential Internals for DBAs and Developers"
  • Similar to the above, this is the book to read to understand how Oracle works. Oracle is the oldest database in the world to use SQL and is one of the best implementation of the language and engine.
• Daniel Abadi: "DBMS Musings"
  • Great database blog to read and follow.
• Itzik Ben Gahn Home Page
  • Itzik focuses on T-SQL (the SQL dialect spoken by SQL Server). But his lessons are applicable to any database
  • Buy his book or take his courses - he is a great teacher
• Donald Farmer Tree Hive Strategy
  • Donald isn't just a wonderful human who has been inspiration to me - he is also a great thinker.
  • Visit his site and follow his writing.