Python Data Analysis Cookbook

Implementing a star schema with fact and dimension tables

The star schema is a database pattern that facilitates reporting. Star schemas are appropriate for the processing of events, such as website visits, ad clicks, or financial transactions. Event information (metrics, such as temperature or purchase amount) is stored in fact tables linked to much smaller dimension tables. Star schemas are denormalized, which places the responsibility of integrity checks to the application code. For this reason, we should only write to the database in a controlled manner. If you use SQLAlchemy for bulk inserts, you should choose the Core API over the ORM API or use straight SQL. You can read more about the reasons at http://docs.sqlalchemy.org/en/rel_1_0/faq/performance.html ...