2. Ensuring Your Database Structure Is Sound

“We shape our buildings: thereafter they shape us.”

—Sir Winston Churchill

Topics Covered in This Chapter

Why Is This Chapter Here?

Why Worry about Sound Structures?

Fine-Tuning Fields

Fine-Tuning Tables

Establishing Solid Relationships

Is That All?

Summary

Most of you reading this book are probably working with an existing database structure implemented on your favorite (we hope) RDBMS program. It’s hard for us to assume, at this point, whether or not you—or the person who developed the database—really had the necessary knowledge and skills or the time to design the database properly. Assuming the worst, you probably have a number of tables that could use some fine-tuning. Fortunately, you’re about to ...

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