Database Design Using Entity-Relationship Diagrams

  • 3h 12m
  • Richard Earp, Sikha Bagui
  • CRC Press
  • 2003
  • Demonstrates testing of a newly-constructed database via the theory of normal forms and referential integrity constraints
  • Provides a data modeling schema that defines entities, relationships, attributes
  • Discusses structural constraints in relationships
  • Includes corresponding grammar and mapping rules
  • Explores generalizations and specializations
  • Illustrates a reverse mapping design for mapping a relational database backward to an ER diagram--performed when database is in use but no diagram exists

Entity-relationship (E-R) diagrams are time-tested models for database development well-known for their usefulness in mapping out clear database designs. Also commonly known is how difficult it is to master them. With this comprehensive guide, database designers and developers can quickly learn all the ins and outs of E-R diagramming to become expert database designers. Because E-R diagrams are so fundamental to database design, this book is also an indispensable text for teaching computer science students the basics of database development.

Database Design Using Entity-Relationship Diagrams clarifies E-R diagramming by defining it in terms of requirements (end user requests) and specifications (designer feedback to those requests). The book explains how open communication between designers and end users is critical to developing usable, easy-to-understand E-R diagrams that model both requirements and specifications.

The authors explain, in an intuitive, informal manner, how to develop an E-R diagram, how to map it to a database, and how the resulting database can be tested. This definitive guide is a basic component for any database course, and is also an invaluable reference that database professionals can use throughout their careers.

In this Book

  • The Software Engineering Process and Relational Databases
  • The Basic ER Diagram—A Data Modeling Schema
  • Beyond the First Entity Diagram
  • Extending Relationships/Structural Constraints
  • The Weak Entity
  • Further Extensions for ER Diagrams with Binary Relationships
  • Ternary and Higher-Order ER Diagrams
  • Generalizations and Specializations
  • Relational Mapping and Reverse-Engineering ER Diagrams
  • A Brief Overview of the Barker/Oracle-Like Model