Concept
Database normalization
Related concepts (20)
Superkey
In the relational data model a superkey is a set of attributes that uniquely identifies each tuple of a relation. Because superkey values are unique, tuples with the same superkey value must also have the same non-key attribute values. That is, non-key attributes are functionally dependent on the superkey. The set of all attributes is always a superkey (the trivial superkey). Tuples in a relation are by definition unique, with duplicates removed after each operation, so the set of all attributes is always uniquely valued for every tuple.
Candidate key
A candidate key, or simply a key, of a relational database is a minimal superkey. In other words, it is any set of columns that have a unique combination of values in each row (which makes it a superkey), with the additional constraint that removing any column could produce duplicate combinations of values (which makes it a minimal superkey). Because a candidate key is a superkey that doesn't contain a smaller one, a relation can have multiple candidate keys, each with a different number of attributes.
Data domain
In data management and database analysis, a data domain is the collection of values that a data element may contain. The rule for determining the domain boundary may be as simple as a data type with an enumerated list of values. For example, a database table that has information about people, with one record per person, might have a "marital status" column. This column might be declared as a string data type, and allowed to have one of two known code values: "M" for married, "S" for single, and NULL for records where marital status is unknown or not applicable.
Star schema
In computing, the star schema is the simplest style of data mart schema and is the approach most widely used to develop data warehouses and dimensional data marts. The star schema consists of one or more fact tables referencing any number of dimension tables. The star schema is an important special case of the snowflake schema, and is more effective for handling simpler queries. The star schema gets its name from the physical model's resemblance to a star shape with a fact table at its center and the dimension tables surrounding it representing the star's points.
Database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data (also known as a data store) stored and accessed electronically through the use of a database management system. Small databases can be stored on a , while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases spans formal techniques and practical considerations, including data modeling, efficient data representation and storage, query languages, security and privacy of sensitive data, and distributed computing issues, including supporting concurrent access and fault tolerance.
Surrogate key
A surrogate key (or synthetic key, pseudokey, entity identifier, factless key, or technical key) in a database is a unique identifier for either an entity in the modeled world or an object in the database. The surrogate key is not derived from application data, unlike a natural (or business) key. There are at least two definitions of a surrogate: Surrogate (1) – Hall, Owlett and Todd (1976) A surrogate represents an entity in the outside world. The surrogate is internally generated by the system but is nevertheless visible to the user or application.
Column (database)
In a relational database, a column is a set of data values of a particular type, one value for each row of the database. A column may contain text values, numbers, or even pointers to files in the operating system. Columns typically contain simple types, though some relational database systems allow columns to contain more complex data types, such as whole documents, images, or even video clips. A column can also be called an attribute. Each row would provide a data value for each column and would then be understood as a single structured data value.
Snowflake schema
In computing, a snowflake schema is a logical arrangement of tables in a multidimensional database such that the entity relationship diagram resembles a snowflake shape. The snowflake schema is represented by centralized fact tables which are connected to multiple dimensions. "Snowflaking" is a method of normalizing the dimension tables in a star schema. When it is completely normalized along all the dimension tables, the resultant structure resembles a snowflake with the fact table in the middle.
Object–relational impedance mismatch
Object–relational impedance mismatch creates difficulties going from data in relational data stores (relational database management system [“RDBMS”]) to usage in domain-driven object models. Object-orientation (OO) is the default method for business-centric design in programming languages. The problem lies in neither relational nor OO, but in the conceptual difficulty mapping between the two logic models. Both are logical models implementable differently on database servers, programming languages, design patterns, or other technologies.
Relation (database)
In database theory, a relation, as originally defined by E. F. Codd, is a set of tuples (d1, d2, ..., dn), where each element dj is a member of Dj, a data domain. Codd's original definition notwithstanding, and contrary to the usual definition in mathematics, there is no ordering to the elements of the tuples of a relation. Instead, each element is termed an attribute value. An attribute is a name paired with a domain (nowadays more commonly referred to as a type or data type).