Data Modeling "the third way ?"

Hi,

Few days ago I head a discussion on data modeling. To me , at least what I know about data modeling there are two ways (or two families) to model "the real world" the data of your business model.
1. Dimensional modeling , Star Schema.... 2. Entity Relationship modeling , ERD , 3NF ..or E-ER modeling..say the OO way.

But he had following modeling technique...

• No relationships between tables.
• Table A contains in one of the columns the name of the related table
• Table A contains the record number of the related table, mentioned in the column above.

It seems to me that this is not maintainable and to get or insert data you almost need to implement a database engine yourself to update record numbers...etc.
No mapping possible to EJB CMP or whatever technology to retrieve or store data.

His argument is : It is flexible...you can store everything...

But what are you modeling....This is not a model to me and not usable.

Happy to hear some comments on this one...."the third way"

//The truth is out there

Regards,

Dario
dario.rossa_at_mature.be Received on Thu Apr 10 2003 - 13:21:26 CDT