A giant in the field of database management systems, C. J. Date, has proved that databases can be explained in conversational English without falling back on the technical sublanguage usually employed. Time was when the very term "database" implied a vast amount of data, multiple users, and arcane language. But times change. It is significant that this database primer is issued in paperback for the publisher's microcomputer popular series, at a modest price ($12.95). And it is a book that appeals to the reading public -- the issue used for this review is from the third printing, April 1984.
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