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Seven Databases in Seven Weeks--New from Pragmatic Bookshelf: A Guide to Modern Databases and the NoSQL Movement

May 23, 2012

Seven Databases in Seven Weeks

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Raleigh, NC—Data is getting bigger and more complex by the day, and so are your choices in handling it. From traditional RDBMS to newer NoSQL approaches, Seven Databases in Seven Weeks (Pragmatic Bookshelf, $35.00) takes you on a tour of some of the hottest open source databases today.

In the tradition of Bruce A. Tate's Seven Languages in Seven Weeks, this book goes beyond your basic tutorial to explore the essential concepts at the core of each technology.

Redis, Neo4J, CouchDB, MongoDB, HBase, Riak, and Postgres: with each database, you'll tackle a real-world data problem that highlights the concepts and features that make it shine. You'll explore the five data models employed by these databases: relational, key/value, columnar, document, and graph. See which kinds of problems are best suited to each, and when to use them.

You'll learn how MongoDB and CouchDB are strikingly different, and discover the Dynamo heritage at the heart of Riak. Make your applications faster with Redis and more connected with Neo4J. Use MapReduce to solve Big Data problems. Build clusters of servers using scalable services like Amazon's Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).

Understand the tradeoffs between consistency and availability, and when you can use them to your advantage. Use multiple databases in concert to create a platform that's more than the sum of its parts, or find one that meets all your needs at once.

Seven Databases in Seven Weeks will take you on a deep dive into each of the databases, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to choose the ones that fit your needs.

Available for e-readers in epub, mobi, and PDF formats direct from the publisher and in paperback from fine bookstores worldwide.

What People are Saying

"This is by far the best substantive overview of modern databases. Unlike the host of tutorials, blog posts, and documentation I have read, this book taught me why I would want to use each type of database and the ways in which I can use them in a way that made me easily understand and retain the information. It was a pleasure to read."
—Loren Sands-Ramshaw, Software Engineer, U.S. Department of Defense

"This is one of the best CouchDB introductions I have seen."
—Jan Lehnardt, Apache CouchDB Developer and Author

"In an ideal world, the book cover would have been big enough to call this book 'Everything you never thought you wanted to know about databases that you can't possibly live without.' To be fair, Seven Databases in Seven Weeks will probably sell better."
—Dr Nic Williams, VP of Technology, Engine Yard

For a review copy or more information please email pragprogpr@oreilly.com. Please include your delivery address and contact information.

About the Authors

Eric Redmond has been in the software industry for more than 15 years, working with Fortune 500 companies, governments, and many startups. He is a coder, illustrator, international speaker, and active organizer of several technology groups.

View Eric Redmond's full profile page.

Jim R. Wilson started hacking at the age of 13 and never looked back. He has worked as an engineer and web guru at companies in the healthcare, search and marketing sectors. He began tinkering with Non-SQL databases in 2007, and has contributed code to large-scale open source projects like MediaWiki and HBase. A frequent speaker at local JavaScript and NoSQL events, he lives in Littleton, MA with his incredible wife Ruth, and two amazing children.

View Jim R. Wilson's full profile page.

Additional Resources
For more information about the book, including: code, errata, discussions, full table of contents, excerpts from the book and more, see the catalog page for Seven Databases in Seven Weeks.

Seven Databases in Seven Weeks Seven Databases in Seven Weeks
Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf
By Eric Redmond, Jim R. Wilson
Print ISBN: 9781934356920  
Pages: 352
Print Price: $35.00  
order@oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938
1-707-827-7000

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The Pragmatic Bookshelf features books written by developers for developers. The titles continue the well-known Pragmatic Programmer style, and continue to garner awards and rave reviews. As development gets more and more difficult, the Pragmatic Programmers will be there with more titles and products to help programmers stay on top of their game.

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