[dba-SQLServer] Design first without Id column - was Arthurs thread

Susan Harkins ssharkins at gmail.com
Tue Mar 11 19:13:17 CDT 2014


Mark, that route would probably  force better/truer normalization as well.

Susan H.

On Tue, Mar 11, 2014 at 8:06 PM, Mark Breen <marklbreen at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Arthur and everyone else,
>
> Changing the subject slightly here
>
> May I draw everyones attention to a fascinating concept I saw in a
> presentation I had two years ago at an SQLSaturday event.
>
> A brilliant database lady, whose name escapes me tortured the room by
> challenging our existing methods of doing things.  I will not list all the
> 'rules' that she demonstrated could and should be broken but eventually she
> got onto the natural / artificial pk design.
>
> She eventually admitted that she always uses an artificial key for
> implementation but she completes all her db designs initially without and
> artificial keys.
>
> By building a preliminary db without any Id cols, she instructed that it
> forces us to really identify what data is being stored and related in in
> each table.  By doing a design without the Id columns,  you need to get
> your data correct.  Once you are done, then she adds in the Ids and git's
> to coding.
>
> I am not suggesting stop using Ids, but it is a neat idea in the design to
> attempt it without those columns.  Theory is that when you cannot, you
> possible do not fully have the db design correct yet.
>
> Of any interest?
>
> Mark
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On 11 March 2014 19:32, Arthur Fuller <fuller.artful at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Well, my principal mission has been achieved! Said mission was not to prove
>> or even posit my point, but to kick the ashes and see whether the embers
>> are still burning. And they are! Nothing like a hot topic to awake the
>> sleeping dragons.
>>
>> Happy to see that you're all alive and well.
>>
>> A.
>>
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