Re: Surrogate primary key plus unique constraint vs. natural primary key: data integrity?
From: Jan Hidders <hidders_at_gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:50:36 +0100
Message-ID: <5140f4ac$0$6344$e4fe514c_at_dreader35.news.xs4all.nl>
>
> I just had to find the right keywords to search for, in this case it's
> the term "overlapping foreign keys". It's actually addressed in some
> textbooks.
>
> It's astounding imho that e.g. normalisation seems to be sufficiently
> addressed in database design classes, textbooks etc., while the problem
> of proper unification appears to be quite underrated, even ignored, even
> by lots of computer scientists by education. Which has also been
> confirmed by the number of answers I got in this group that
> apparently totally ignored the issue.
>
> Thank goodness I had professors who had a clue (and taught me to always
> stay away from surrogate keys) even though I'm "just" an engineer.
Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:50:36 +0100
Message-ID: <5140f4ac$0$6344$e4fe514c_at_dreader35.news.xs4all.nl>
On 2013-03-13 17:18:37 +0000, Wolfgang Keller said:
>>> >>> Since I couldn't find an example like that in the (online as well as >>> printed) literature, is there a textbook (or online documentation) >>> about these issues? First, to quote it when I have to argue with >>> people, and second, to improve my own education. >> >> Unfortunately I cannot recommend any paper on this particular subject >> (dbdebunk is still a good reference),
>
> I just had to find the right keywords to search for, in this case it's
> the term "overlapping foreign keys". It's actually addressed in some
> textbooks.
>
> It's astounding imho that e.g. normalisation seems to be sufficiently
> addressed in database design classes, textbooks etc., while the problem
> of proper unification appears to be quite underrated, even ignored, even
> by lots of computer scientists by education. Which has also been
> confirmed by the number of answers I got in this group that
> apparently totally ignored the issue.
>
> Thank goodness I had professors who had a clue (and taught me to always
> stay away from surrogate keys) even though I'm "just" an engineer.
Yes, always listen to your database professor! :-)
- Jan Hidders