Am I correct in assuming the book is out of date, and that I don't need to do this?
Yep. That was the old assignment. Now you are provided with a binary db.db file, so there is no need to write a converter.
Hope this helps,
Michael Morris
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction. - Ernst F. Schumacher