CHAPTER 2The Language of Data Modeling

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—"Lisa's Sax," The Simpsons

If the database that is being modeled is done correctly, the data model is often the best form of documentation a system gets. It gives you an overview of the foundation of the system, and programmers and end users alike can read it to get an idea of how their system works and how tables are related. Best of all, using a good tool, you can practically design the basics of a system live, right with your clients as they describe what you want (hopefully, someone else would be gathering other requirements that are not data structure related).

The first step, however, is to get a grasp on the language that the graphical depiction ...

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