What Not How: The Business Rules Approach to Application Development - Softcover

I should also make it clear that the book grew out of the script for a live presentation. As a consequence, the style is a good deal chattier than my usual writing, and the tone is possibly a little shrill on occasion . . . In the interests of full disclosure, I must also explain that the presentation and the book were both produced under an agreement with Versata Inc. (formerly known as Vision Software Tools Inc.), a company that has a business rules product to sell. However, the book is not about Versata specifically, nor is it about any other specific company or product; rather, it's about business rule technology in general. What's more, "the views expressed are my own"; they're not necessarily endorsed by Versata, nor by any other vendor. Equally, I don't mean to suggest that all of the features we're going to be examining can be found in all of the commercially available products (or in some cases, perhaps, in any of them!). The book describes how business rule systems work in general and in principle; it doesn't necessarily correspond exactly to the way any given product works in practice. Who should read this book: Part I of the book is meant to introduce business rule technology to the widest possible audience. It's deliberately not very technical; in fact, it's intended primarily as a "manager's guide" to the subject, though I do believe that technologists, especially people concerned with developing databases and applications in the traditional way, should benefit from it as well. All you need in order to understand Part I is a basic knowledge of what databases and applications are all about, together with a broad idea of what's involved in the traditional approach to developing such databases and applications. Part II of the book is a little more technical in nature, but not very much so; the primary target audience is still basically as for Part I, and in any case most of the technical background required to understand the overall message is explained in the text itself. How to read the book: Part I is meant to be read in sequence as written and in its entirety; skipping chapters or reading them in a different order is not recommended, at least not on a first reading. Part II can be skipped if you like, but if you do read it then I would strongly suggest, again, that you read it in sequence and in its entirety, at least on a first reading. Of course, the book is quite short, and you could probably read the whole thing in a single sitting if you felt like it. C. J. Date
Healdsburg, California
2000

0201708507P04062001

C. J. Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant specializing in relational database systems, a field he helped pioneer. Among other projects, he was involved in technical planning for the IBM products SQL/DS and DB2. He is best known for his books, in particular, An Introduction to Database Systems (7th edition, Addison-Wesley, 2000), the standard text in the field, which has sold well over half a million copies worldwide. Mr. Date is widely acknowledged for his ability to explain complex technical material in a clear and understandable fashion.