In the era of database technology, Database design is one of the most important aspects of any application development project. In today’s computing world, each and every application need a good database design to make it robust and reliable. Therefore, database modeling becomes an essential task in any application development project. And so, without further ado, Let’s go through some of the database design tips:
Think first then do
One of the most obvious problems I have seen is that developer failed to plan before development. Sometimes database modeling occurs at the same time as software development. This is like building the foundation before completing the blueprint.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail”- Alan Lakein
In the software industries, sometimes planning is ignored and developers start the coding phase of the project. This can lead to a big problem in near future. Therefore, plan ahead is one of most important thing to do in any software project. If you are creating a complex application then there is always a need of proper database design. Therefore, “Think twice code once“.
Use the right number of tables for Database
There is no fixed number of tables for your database. It only depends on the complexity of your application. Your database has as many tables as the application requires i.e. no more, no less. Inexperienced database designer uses fewer tables in the database for any application. It’s not a good practice. Therefore it must be avoided while building a proper database modeling.
Follow a naming convention
The naming convention is not important while designing the database. Names provide insights to understand the data model. Therefore always use logical names for the fields in the table. Inconvenient naming conventions always frustrate the developers. Weak naming conventions always lead to errors in development because it is not consistent.
Avoid Nulls as possible
Allowing null values for columns complicates the application programming to access data from the database. Therefore avoid Nulls by specifying “NOT NULL” wherever you can. The NULL should use whenever the field value is unknown. For example, landline number field permits null.
Think strictly about keys
Keys always play a significant role in the database design. If you are planning to model your database then must carefully think about the keys like primary key, foreign key, and artificial key. Every table needs a primary key that identifies each row uniquely. So it’s an art to decide which columns will be part of the primary key. Other than this, for proper normalization, each table needs an identifying key which guarantees the uniqueness of the data.
Avoid Redundant Data
When designing the table structure for the database, try to avoid creating redundant data. You can avoid repeating data by breaking it into different tables. Redundant data always breaks the data integrity constraints. The most obvious type of redundant data problem is to create a column that exists in two or more tables in the database. Hence it must be avoided for the proper database design.
In conclusion, Database design and development is the process of putting business model requirements into a well-planned database. Proper database design is the only key to get success. By paying attention to these tips, your database will be better designed and more robust.
So if you are looking into the best database design and development around the globe then, please get in touch with us or contact at support@AppPerfect.com or visit the website www.AppPerfect.com and have a live chat with the support team.
Comments by Steve Young