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If somewhere in your future you see the words 'ODMG', 'Object Database', 'OQL' and C++, you should probably have a look at this book. Written by the ODMG (Object Data Management Group) C++ Editor, this book describes not just how to use the ODMG Standard C++ database interface, but also Object Database Modelling. It also contains a description of OQL (Object Query Language; an SQL-like, declarative language for querying object databases). In addition, there is a useful description of object database architectures and performance issues.

The book is written in a very clear and accessible style. The main chapters in the first part of the book serve as a useful tutorial on C++ Object Database programming; the second part does the same for OQL. The third and fourth parts of the book are less practically applicable, but nevertheless provide essential background. These chapters will be useful long after the reader has finished working through the tutorials and the same applies to the appendices describing the ODMG C++ classes and meta classes. Unlike many other appendices that are merely anaemic lists, these are actually comprehensive and detailed enough for later reference.

In summary, this book will be useful to any working programmer or designer who will have to deal with C++ and Object databases. For managers, the author recommendsObject Databases: The Essentialsby Mary Loomis and for those seeking technical implementation details he refers toObject Data Managementby Rick Cattell. While I have not seen these books myself, I would tend to agree with David Jordan that if you have such specialised requirements, this book is not for you. For most people, though, his book is an excellent introduction and reference on the subject.