Sound database design can save hours of development time and result in a database which is more functional and easier to use. This book is a straightforward, platform-independent tutorial on the basic principles of relational database design, based on the author's years of experience teaching this material. Hernandez introduces the core concepts of design theory and method without the technical jargon. His use of hands-on examples and a wealth of practical examples made the first edition of this book the bestselling book on database design. Now the author has made a great book even better. He has rewritten much of the text, clarifyied old examples and added new ones, incorporated advances in database design, and added a CD-ROM. As Ken Getz says in his foreword to the second edition, "No matter what specific database package you're using, the concepts in this book will make sense, and will apply to your database design projects."