database design method
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 22:04:54 +0100
Message-ID: <pI_r9.172$OC2.19355_at_wards>
I'm confused about the methods of database design.
It seems to me that most theoretical texts talk about 'conceptual',
database schema. However in the 'real world' conceptual and logical steps seem to be combined into a single step.
Academic texts seem to use the chen notation and the E-R data model to
identify entity and relationship sets (pure conceptual design independent of
any DBMS, no asumption of an RDBMS implementation). Is this ever done in the
'real world'?
It seems to me that professionals simply engage in logical and physical design. They produce a normalised logical data design (identifying all attributes and primary and foreign keys - possibly also domains). They also use a 'crows foot' notation identifying relations and the relationships between them. Thus they are assuming an RDMBS implementation (but no particular brand of RDBMS). This 'logical' design activity is sometimes referred to as 'conceptual design', even though an RDBMS is being targeted.
From the logical design a database schema is produced (physical design).
Am i going wrong somewhere? Received on Fri Oct 18 2002 - 23:04:54 CEST