Re: FK -> non PK - bad design?

Originally posted by --Celko--
> >> Is it really worth adding an 'S' to every table name in the
> world
> just to remind ourselves that there is more than one record [sic] in
> it? > If so, should we pluralise all the column names too for the same
> reason - e.g. there are many employee names in the "employee_name"
> column? :) <<
>
> No, because the values of a COLUMN (not a "record" -- totally
> different concept!) are scalars. Saying "employee_names" would mean
> that you have crowded several names in one column, in violation of
> First Normal Form.
I know that, I was being facetious! But then, the term COLUMN is misleading as it implies (from analogy with a "table" in a book), a vertical set of many values - each individual value belonging to a single row/record[sic]/tuple of course. The term ATTRIBUTE doesn't have that connotation.
I guess I was just brought up badly, with singular table names, and I find plural table names somewhat pedantic. I'll try to get over it! At least you'll never find a "tbl" prefix on one of my tables though...

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