The Firebird Book Second Edition: Volume 1: Firebird Fundamentals

Since the original edition of The Firebird Book was published as a 900-gram doorstop in 2004, the open source Firebird relational database management system has undergone three major releases through versions 2.0, 2.1 and 2.5. The Firebird Book Second Edition brings Firebird technical users up to score across all of the releases from the original v.1.0 through to the latest 2.5. The whole book, too big to publish as a paperback, is distributed by the IBPhoenix company on a DVD. For print, it has been split into three partly overlapping volumes, of which Firebird Fundamentals is the first in the series.

In This Volume

Part I Firing Up with Firebird (pp. 1 - 72)
This is an introductory section that goes into some depth to give the reader an understanding of client/server deployments and how you can implement them using a choice of Firebird server and client models. It provides the basics for installing Firebird, setting it up on your network and getting it up and running.

• 1 Firebird Servers and Clients
• 2 Installation
• 3 Network Setup and Initial Configuration
• 4 Operating Basics

Part II Firebird Data Types & Domains (pp. 73 - 158)
In this section, the various data types that Firebird supports are described and discussed in detail.

• 5 About Firebird Data Types
• 6 Number Types
• 7 Date and Time Types
• 8 Character Types
• 9 BLOBS and Arrays
• 10 Domains

Part III A Database & Its Objects (pp. 159 - 288)
The real work starts here: designing and defining the database that you need to fit your requirements. Broadly, it provides an in-depth reference to DML, the SQL lexicon for creating and managing the objects in Firebird databases. At the end is a detailed manual for using the interactive and command-line modes of isql, a tool that comes in every Firebird distribution, regardless of platform.

• 11 Designing and Defining a Database
• 12 Data Definition Language—DDL
• 13 Creating and Maintaining a Database
• 14 Tables
• 15 Indexes
• 16 Referential Integrity
• 17 Interactive SQL Utility (isql)

Part IV Transactions (pp. 289 - 303)
This section contains two detailed chapters describing the transactional model that allows multiple users or tasks to work with the same data simultaneously, in compliance with the ACID rules for ensuring data integrity.

• 18 Overview of Firebird Transactions
• 19 Configuring Transactions

Part V Appendices (pp. 315 - 411)

• I Internal and External Functions
• II Reserved and Non-Reserved Keywords
• III Context Variables
• IV Firebird Limits
• V System Tables and Views
• VI Character Sets and Collations
• VII Resources

Index

GLOSSARY (18 pp. at end of book)

The next volume of the series, Developing with Firebird Data, covers the data manipulation language (DML) lexicon that is used in client applications to retrieve, populate and modify data, and the procedural language (PSQL) for creating executable code in stored procedures, triggers and dynamic executable blocks. It covers error handling in detail, as well as the 'events' mechanisms.

The third companion volume, Administering Firebird Servers and Databases, covers some of the same ground as Fundamentals Part I. It also includes a guide for migrating databases and applications to later versions of Firebird. It moves on to the detailed configuration of servers and databases and the tools for managing and monitoring them.

Helen Borrie is a contracting software engineer and Firebird support consultant with IBPhoenix (www.ibphoenix.com) which commissioned the Firebird books. A former journalist, she has often found herself doubling as a technical writer. She has been involved with database development for 30 years and with Firebird and its ancestors since 1996. A member of the Firebird project team from its first day in July 2000, Helen is active in the Firebird online support community and Secretary and general bottle-washer for the Firebird Foundation Inc.

Helen has been the creator and collator of the verbose release notes for every Firebird release and sub-release, and still is. Her original book, The Firebird Book, published by Apress in 2004, is recently out of print.