Re: Just one more anecdote

Marshall Spight wrote:
> Kenneth Downs wrote:
> >
> > ERD has never appealed to me because it seemed to be trying to make
> > something easy that was in fact already easy. Because it was trying to
> > make something more easy, it had to introduce elements that masked reality,
> > such as a M:M relationship that masks a cross-reference table. What's the
> > point? The x-ref itself is sometimes useful for direct querying, so why
> > not show it?
>
> Great post! This does a bang-up job of articulating something I've
> been feeling but unable to put into words for a while.

I think this provides support for what I suggested in another post -- that people will often create what someone might call a conceptual model or an analysis model, but where they are presupposing an implementation model when preparing it.

Perhaps you and Kenneth would not call it a conceptual model, but what you are then suggesting is that you skip the step where you model the problem domain and go right for a relational design.

Just on the off chance that perhaps someday you will want to do an implementation with a different model than the one you currently use, I suggest that it really is a good idea to aim first to prepare a model without regard for the target implementation. Just a suggestion, of course.

cheers! --dawn Received on Mon Aug 01 2005 - 23:08:36 CDT