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Home -> Community -> Mailing Lists -> Oracle-L -> DESIGN Question: 1 or many tables and other thoughts
My question deals with what is the best practice in creating lookup tables. Many of these tables contain very limited information such as "code & description". For example:
Agency
1 - Jones Inc
2 - Ratfield Co
Source
1 - phone 2 - mail 3 - internet
Is it better to create 1 composite table to contain this data or have separate
tables for each? If a composite table is the way to go, how far do you take
it? Ie, what if the entity has more than just 2 columns worth of data. What
is the best way to enforce that valid values are actually stored in the table,
since foreign keys can't be used for these composite table types? (For
example,
if a sales table has a source column, how should you enforce that valid sources
are
actually stored in the row?)
In addition, can anyone recommend either a good website/book/course that has practical/useful design tips? Everywhere I read it states how important design is to the performance of the application, however frankly all I see normally is references to ratios, counts, blah, blah, blah ... Not that they aren't important but I just never see enough information re: design concepts, tips, tricks... (Maybe I am just missing something)
While I'm at it, we are also looking to implement design reviews in our shop. First though, we need to set some expectations for presentation to the review board. As a starting point for creating the expecations, does anyone have a checklist of items to consider/address in these discussions?
One other thing, while I am thinking about it. I have seen references to first complete the logical design, then the physical. Do most shops actually go through the logical phase(red tape as I'm told) or does reality set in (like it does here) and developers jump right into the physical design? Just wondering if I am alone.
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Author: Tracy Rahmlow
INET: Tracy.Rahmlow_at_aexp.com
Fat City Network Services -- (858) 538-5051 FAX: (858) 538-5051 San Diego, California -- Public Internet access / Mailing Lists --------------------------------------------------------------------To REMOVE yourself from this mailing list, send an E-Mail message to: ListGuru_at_fatcity.com (note EXACT spelling of 'ListGuru') and in the message BODY, include a line containing: UNSUB ORACLE-L (or the name of mailing list you want to be removed from). You may also send the HELP command for other information (like subscribing). Received on Wed Feb 06 2002 - 15:46:10 CST
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