Beginning Database Design Solutions

Glossary

This appendix contains a glossary of useful database terms. You may find them handy when you read other books and articles about databases. You may also want to look for database and related glossaries online and in print. For example, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management" (Mark Mosley editor, Technics Publications, LLC, 2008) contains an excellent data management glossary.

For a list of relational database management systems in addition to those mentioned here, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_relational_database_management_systems. For a comparison of relational database management system features, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_relational_database_management_systems.

1NF

See "First Normal Form."

2NF

See "Second Normal Form."

3NF

See "Third Normal Form."

4NF

See "Fourth Normal Form."

5NF

See "Fifth Normal Form."

6NF

See "Domain Key Normal Form."

ACID

Acronym for a set of database properties needed for reliable transactions. ACID stands for Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability (see the entries for those terms).

ADO

ActiveX Data Objects. A Microsoft collection of classes that allows programs to interact with databases. ADO is built on top of OLE DB (see "OLE DB").

alternate key

A candidate key that is not used as the table's primary key.

API

Application Programming Interface. A library of routines that a program can use to perform specialized tasks such as manipulating a database or drawing graphics.

association object

In a semantic object model, an object used to represent ...