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General Database Design FAQ

$Date: 23-Jul-2001 $
$Revision: 1.1 $
$Author: Frank Naudé $

There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C. A. R. Hoare

Topics

  • What is Computer Aided Software Engineering?
  • What is data normalization?
  • Why should one normalize?
  • How does one normalize data?
  • When should one denormalize the design?
  • What is an ERD and what is it used for?
  • Where can one get more info about Database Design?
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    What is Computer Aided Software Engineering?

     Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) is a collection of tools and techniques that promise revolutionary gains in analyst and programmer productivity. The two prominent delivered technologies are application generators and workstations that provide graphics-oriented automation of the development process.

    Oracle Designer is Oracle's CASE Tool for designing relational database applications. Object Oriented applications can be developed in Oracle JDeveloper using UML (Universal Modeling Language) diagramming.

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    • What is data normalization?

     Data normalization is the process of successively reducing a given collection of relations to some more desirable form. The normalization process is reversible (a process of no-loss decomposition). More simply, normalization is the process of re-arange data relationships so that it will be easy to store and retrieve data efficiently.

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    • Why should one normalize?

     Data is normalized to achieve the following goals:

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    • How does one normalize data?

     A database is normalized if it comply to the following rules:

    1st Normal Form

    2nd Normal Form 3rd Normal Form There are also 4th and 5th normal forms, but their definitions are of academic concern only, and are rarely required for practical purposes.

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    • When should one denormalize the design?

     One should denormalize the design when:

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    • What is an ERD and what is it used for?

     ERDs (Entity Relationship Diagrams) models entities (tables) and the relationships between them.

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    • Where can one get more info about Database Design?

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