About the Authors

C.J.Date is an independent author, lecturer, researcher, and consultant, specializing in relational database technology. He is best known for his book An Introduction to Database Systems (8th edition, Addison-Wesley, 2004), which has sold some 900,000 copies at the time of writing and is used by several hundred colleges and universities worldwide. He is also the author or coauthor of numerous other books on database management. He was inducted into the Computing Industry Hall of Fame in 2004. He enjoys a reputation that is second to none for his ability to explain complex technical subjects in a clear and understandable fashion.

Hugh Darwen was employed in IBM’s software development divisions from 1967 to 2004. In the early part of his career, he was involved in DBMS development; from 1978 to 1982, he was one of the chief architects of an IBM product called Business System 12, a product that faithfully embraced the principles of the relational model. He was an active participant in the development of the international SQL standard (and related standards) from 1988 to 2004. Based in the U.K., he currently teaches relational database theory at Warwick University and is a tutor and course development consultant for the Open University. He has written two books on database management as well as coauthoring several others with C. J. Date. He has received honorary degrees from the University of Wolverhampton and the Open University.

Nikos A. Lorentzos is a Professor at the Agricultural University of Athens. He is mainly known for his research in temporal (also spatiotemporal) databases. He has participated in relevant European Union funded projects (prime researcher for the development of a temporal DBMS). The temporal model he has proposed has been extensively evaluated by independent researchers with positive comments; it is described in books addressed to university students, it has been the basis of PhDs undertaken in Europe, it has attracted the interest of DBMS developers, and it has had impact on international standards, as witnessed by the fact that SQL:2011 includes temporal characteristics proposed exclusively in his research. He is coeditor of the book Spatiotemporal Databases: The Chorochronos Approach (spatiotemporal databases). He is active in temporal, spatial, and spatiotemporal databases as well as in the development of decision support and expert systems in the forestry and agricultural domains.