Today all enterprises, from retail stores to financial institutions, manufacturing to government departments, depend on their databases to provide the crucial information essential to running their businesses. Databases are central for the rapidly growing and maturing electronic commerce. This reference gives the Information Technology professional a basic understanding of database design and development, covering the fundamentals and laying a solid foundation for one's move to specialization in the database field. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.