Tag Archives: database design

Understanding a Database

Posted on November 30, 2018 by

I ran across a post that asked a good question, one which I want to ask you today: how do you learn about a database? I’ve run into quite a few databases in my career. Some were third party systems, like Dynamics and JD … Continue reading →

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Modeling and Design Are More Important in DevOps

Posted on October 15, 2018 by

I’ve run across a few customers that are adopting DevOps processes for the database. This makes sense as I deal with Redgate Customers, many of whom are doing this. As they adopt a Compliant Database DevOps process, it seems often … Continue reading →

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Give Up on Natural Primary Keys

Posted on October 1, 2018 by

There is plenty of debate over how to design your database. At SQLServerCentral we have a Stairway Series as well as a few articles that cover design topics. I think it’s important for anyone that builds tables to spend some time learning what others … Continue reading →

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The Master of the Schema

Posted on August 14, 2018 by

“The database … should be the master of the schema”. It’s not often I see an application developer talk about the importance of the database, or at least that the database (and data) are very important to the success of … Continue reading →

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Who Likes NULL?

Posted on July 6, 2018 by

The title says it all: who Likes NULL values in their tables? I have tended to allow NULLs in quite a few places in my design, often because I view the world as messy and incomplete. I also find that … Continue reading →

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Where’s the schema?

Posted on July 3, 2018 by

Across the last few years, I’ve read many articles and listened to quite a few talks that discuss the advantages of NoSQL databases. I’ll admit that I’m often skeptical of the advantages of other datastores overcoming the disadvantages with a … Continue reading →

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Singular or Plural

Posted on December 8, 2017 by

There are all sorts of interesting debates that developers will have about programming. One of those I’ve written about in the past is Spaces v Tabs. There’s a lot of discussion about that one, and certainly no share of strong opinions. … Continue reading →

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The Relational Database is the Default

Posted on December 7, 2017 by

It seems that I regularly meet people in the SQL community that are asked about moving their datastore to a NoSQL type of database. In a mature system, that might be a conversation worth having, especially if there are issues … Continue reading →

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A Database Design Test

Posted on June 30, 2017 by

I was watching a presentation recently on database design and the speaker talked about how he hires developers. These are full stack developers, for whom the database is a portion of their responsibility. One of the tasks he gives them … Continue reading →

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Null Defaults

Posted on March 3, 2017 by

One of the things that becomes important in a distributed, team environment is the interface that you present to other systems. In a Devops environment, we really need to have an API for every system, including the database. This means a … Continue reading →

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