Semantics, dynamics tradeoff in relational database design

摘要

This paper gives some objections to the artificial separation of the semantics and dynamics aspects of the application during the database design process. It is suggested that both aspects of the application should play a role throughout the design stages (logical and physical) in order to produce a workable schema that captures the real usage picture of the intended application. A simple method that “trades” semantics and dynamics is proposed to provide a common yardstick to measure the “goodness” of the database design. To narrow the scope of the problem a bit, we will concentrate on the database design for the relational model.