| |
| |
| Foreword | |
| |
| |
| Preface | |
| |
| |
| |
| Introduction | |
| |
| |
| Logical Data Structures and Physical Data Storage | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Good Habits | |
| |
| |
| Employ the Users' Language and Vocabulary | |
| |
| |
| Be Rigorous | |
| |
| |
| Don't Rely on the Opinion of a Single Expert; Ask Several | |
| |
| |
| Ask First About Data, Not About Processing | |
| |
| |
| Master the Shapes of Data | |
| |
| |
| Use a Notation That Helps You Realize These Good Habits | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Reading an LDS with Sentences | |
| |
| |
| Sentences About What Users Can Remember | |
| |
| |
| Sentences About Differentiating Things from Each Other | |
| |
| |
| Sentences You Should Not Say | |
| |
| |
| Some Complete Examples | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Vocabulary of LDS | |
| |
| |
| Vocabulary Overview | |
| |
| |
| A Bit More About Entities, Attributes, and Relationships | |
| |
| |
| LDS Reading Rules Revisited | |
| |
| |
| Responsibility for Speaking Well | |
| |
| |
| Summary (and a Chance to Check Your Progress) | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Visualizing Allowed and Disallowed Instances | |
| |
| |
| Show the Data and Say Something About It | |
| |
| |
| Plan Your Notes by Considering Elemental Parts of the LDS | |
| |
| |
| As You Visualize Data, Don't Lose Sight of the Goal | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| A Conversation with Users About Creatures and Skills | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Story Interlude | |
| |
| |
| |
| Introduction to Mastering Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Definition of Shape | |
| |
| |
| Mastering Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Reading a Shape Aloud in Several Ways | |
| |
| |
| Visualizing Sample Data in Several Formats | |
| |
| |
| Discussing and Illustrating Noteworthy Disallowed Data | |
| |
| |
| Finding and Focusing on Shapes Within a Large LDS | |
| |
| |
| Recognizing the Differences Between Shapes That Are Similar but Not Identical | |
| |
| |
| Recognizing the Similarity Between Seemingly Dissimilar Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Distinguishing Between Legitimate Shapes and Syntactically Invalid LDS Fragments | |
| |
| |
| Knowing How Shapes Are Likely to Evolve | |
| |
| |
| Asking Questions That Help Users Choose Between Two Similar Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Knowing When to Ask Questions of Users | |
| |
| |
| Knowing When and How to Modify the LDS to Make a Shape Evolve | |
| |
| |
| Understanding the Relative Frequency of the Various Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Referring to each Fundamental Shape by Its Name | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| One-Entity, No-Relationship Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Common Independent Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Lonely-Attribute Independent Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Aggregate Independent Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Dependent Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Intersection Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Subordinate Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: One-Many Collection Entity | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Many-Many Collection Entity | |
| |
| |
| Unnamed Possibilities | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| One-Attribute Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Scale | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Nominal-Scale Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Numeric-Scale Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Ordinal-Scale Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Boolean-Scale Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Scale and Datatype | |
| |
| |
| Scale and Attribute Names | |
| |
| |
| Fine Distinctions of Scale | |
| |
| |
| Scale and Abstract Datatypes | |
| |
| |
| Summary of How Scale Restricts an Attribute | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Two-Entity Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Two Entities, One Relationship | |
| |
| |
| One-Many Shapes | |
| |
| |
| One-One Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Many-Many Shapes | |
| |
| |
| Two Entities, Two Relationships | |
| |
| |
| One-One and One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Two One-Many Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Two Entities, n Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Shapes with More Than Two Entities | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Chicken Feet In | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Chicken Feet Out | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Chicken Feet Across | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Subordinates Out | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Subordinates Across | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Multiple Plain To-be Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Multiple To-be Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Multiple Short Paths | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Shapes with Reflexive Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Shape: One-One Reflexive Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Sequence Data and Cyclic Sequence Data | |
| |
| |
| Ordered Pairs | |
| |
| |
| Shape: One-Many Reflexive Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Shape: Many-Many Reflexive Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Story Interlude | |
| |
| |
| |
| LDS Syntax Rules | |
| |
| |
| Within Any LDS, Each Entity, Attribute, Relationship, and Link Has an Official Name That Is Unique | |
| |
| |
| No Reflexive Relationship Is a To-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Between Any Pair of Entities, There Is at Most One To-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Each Entity Has at Least One Identifier | |
| |
| |
| An Entity Can Have Several Identifiers | |
| |
| |
| No Identifier Can Be a Strict Subset of Another | |
| |
| |
| The LDS Cannot Contain Any Cycles of Identification Dependency | |
| |
| |
| No Link of a Reflexive Relationship Can Contribute to an Identifier | |
| |
| |
| Both Links of a Relationship Cannot Contribute to Identifiers | |
| |
| |
| A Single-Descriptor Identifier Cannot Include the Degree-One Link of a One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| A Multiple-Descriptor Identifier Cannot Include a Link of a One-One Relationship | |
| |
| |
| A Multiple-Descriptor Identifier Cannot Include the Degree-Many Link of a One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| A Relationship Has Either Two Labels or Zero Labels | |
| |
| |
| All One-One Relationships Have Labels | |
| |
| |
| All Reflexive Relationships Have Labels | |
| |
| |
| Between Any Pair of Entities, There Is at Most One Unlabeled Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Valid Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Getting the Names Right | |
| |
| |
| Entity Names | |
| |
| |
| Working with Users to Get the Entity Names Right | |
| |
| |
| Naming Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Naming Relationships and Links | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Official Names | |
| |
| |
| Official Names Can Be Awkward | |
| |
| |
| A Few Notes About Official Names and To-be Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Labeling Links | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Documenting an LDS | |
| |
| |
| The Audience | |
| |
| |
| Front Matter | |
| |
| |
| Entity Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Attribute Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Link Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Relationship Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Fragment Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Constraint Documentation | |
| |
| |
| Issues List | |
| |
| |
| Supplemental Material for Secondary Audiences | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Story Interlude | |
| |
| |
| |
| Script for Controlled Evolution: The Flow | |
| |
| |
| Script for The Flow | |
| |
| |
| Discussing a Not-to-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Stage: Not-to-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek a Chicken Foot | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek a One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek a Many-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Stage: One-One, Not-to-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Stage: One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Stages: Initial Many-Many Relationship and New Intersection Entity | |
| |
| |
| Developing a Chicken-Feet-In Shape | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek Descriptors for Intersection Entity | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek Tiebreaker | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Consider Overidentification | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Seek Independent Entity | |
| |
| |
| Discussing a To-be Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Consider Synonymy | |
| |
| |
| Flow Investigation: Consider Subordination | |
| |
| |
| Continuing the Discussion | |
| |
| |
| Flow Continuation: Seek Other Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Flow Continuation: Seek Further Evolution for a One-Many Relationship | |
| |
| |
| Flow Continuation: Seek Further Evolution for the Chicken-Feet-Across Shape | |
| |
| |
| Flow Continuation: Seek Further Evolution for the Chicken-Feet-In Shape | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Local, Anytime Steps of Controlled Evolution | |
| |
| |
| Discovering Entities | |
| |
| |
| Fixing Identifiers | |
| |
| |
| Seeking Descriptors | |
| |
| |
| Promoting Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Relocating Misplaced Descriptors | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Global, Anytime Steps of Controlled Evolution | |
| |
| |
| Redrawing the Diagram | |
| |
| |
| Altering the Overall Style of an LDS | |
| |
| |
| Changing the Level of Abstraction | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Conversations About Dairy Farming | |
| |
| |
| Meeting with Users from the General Offices | |
| |
| |
| Meeting with Veterinary Epidemiologists | |
| |
| |
| Meeting with Economic Analysts | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Story Interlude | |
| |
| |
| |
| Constraints | |
| |
| |
| Constraint Definition Requires a Stabilized Data Model | |
| |
| |
| Many Candidate Constraints Turn Out to Be False | |
| |
| |
| Many Constraints Subject a Data Model to Premature Obsolescence | |
| |
| |
| Worthy Constraints | |
| |
| |
| Constraints and Shifting the Burden | |
| |
| |
| Summary and Final Thoughts | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| LDS for LDS | |
| |
| |
| The Meta-LDS | |
| |
| |
| Discussion | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Decisions: Designing a Data-Modeling Notation | |
| |
| |
| Overall Decisions | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Entities | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Identifiers | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Attributes | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Relationships | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Links | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Descriptors | |
| |
| |
| Decisions About Constraints | |
| |
| |
| Summary and Final Thoughts | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| LDS and the Relational Model | |
| |
| |
| Relational Databases | |
| |
| |
| Mapping an LDS to a Relational Schema | |
| |
| |
| LDS and Normal Forms | |
| |
| |
| Summary | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| |
| Cookbook: Recipes for Data Modelers | |
| |
| |
| Set Recipes | |
| |
| |
| Graph Recipes | |
| |
| |
| Matrix Recipes | |
| |
| |
| Taxonomy and Near-Taxonomy Recipes | |
| |
| |
| Exercises | |
| |
| |
| Story Interlude | |
| |
| |
| |
| Exercises for Mastery | |
| |
| |
| Index | |