Appendix B

Explanation of the IDEF1X Notation

IDEF1X is the successor notation to IDEF (Integrated Definition for Data Modeling). IDEF1X is a popular notation for modeling relational databases. The IDEF1X notation has been in use for two decades now and was effectively standardized through early adoption by the U.S. Air Force.

The major concepts in IDEF1X are entity types, relationships, and generalizations.

Entity Type

An entity is a concept, abstraction, or thing that can be individually identified and has meaning for an application. An entity type describes a group of entities with the same attributes, kinds of relationships, and intent. An entity type corresponds to a relational database table and an entity corresponds to a row in a table. ...

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