Books about database systems seem to be a major part of the computer science sections of bookstores I visit, and this is another volume for that section. This book may be for you if the following are true. Paradox was installed on your (possibly networked) PC running DOS or Windows. You dutifully read the Borland documentation, correctly performed some example queries, and used the existing canned reports. Now you want some information in the database that is not easily available from the canned reports. You can get some of the information you desire, but the queries take a great deal of execution time and still do not give you exactly what you want.

This book is organized in three parts. Part 1 (chapters 2 through 13) describes basic query-by-example (QBE) functions and gives the basics of how to set up queries. Since understanding QBE is key to getting full value from the Paradox relational database system, this is the most important section of the book. Part 2 (chapters 14 through 18), called a “Theoretical Interlude,” compares Paradox to “real” relational databases. These chapters, although limited in scope, are better written than many computer science textbooks. Part 3 (chapters 19 through 24) describes computer- and operating systems–oriented techniques to improve execution time and reduce memory requirements. A disk attached to the inside back cover of the book contains some additional query tools (described in Appendix A) and sample files.

The overall look and feel of the book make it easy to use. The type is large, the page layout is open, and the screen shot illustrations are well done. Naturally, a sequel is in the works. We cannot let the bookstores run out of computer science books.