Questions tagged [relational-database]

A relational database is a database consisting of relation variables (which are also called *relvars*, *R-tables* or just *tables*). The definition, manipulation and integrity rules of relational databases are based on relational operations equivalent to or similar to the Relational Algebra and Calculus. Relational database principles are the basis of a substantial part of data management theory and practice.

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What are the options for storing hierarchical data in a relational database?

Good Overviews Generally speaking, you're making a decision between fast read times (for example, nested set) or fast write times (adjacency list). Usually, you end up with a combination of the ...
434 votes
4 answers
549k views

How to implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables?

Can anyone explain how to implement one-to-one, one-to-many and many-to-many relationships while designing tables with some examples?
arsenal's user avatar
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433 votes
8 answers
778k views

What is the difference between Views and Materialized Views in Oracle?

What is the difference between Views and Materialized Views in Oracle?
juan's user avatar
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410 votes
7 answers
104k views

When and why are database joins expensive?

I'm doing some research into databases and I'm looking at some limitations of relational DBs. I'm getting that joins of large tables is very expensive, but I'm not completely sure why. What does the ...
Rik's user avatar
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380 votes
2 answers
635k views

Laravel - Eloquent "Has", "With", "WhereHas" - What do they mean?

I've found the concept and meaning behind these methods to be a little confusing, is it possible for somebody to explain to me what the difference between has and with is, in the context of an example ...
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275 votes
4 answers
238k views

Does the join order matter in SQL?

Disregarding performance, will I get the same result from query A and B below? How about C and D? ----- Scenario 1: -- A (left join) select * from a left join b on <blahblah> ...
Just a learner's user avatar
214 votes
2 answers
188k views

PostgreSQL Foreign Key syntax

I have 2 tables as you will see in my PosgreSQL code below. The first table students has 2 columns, one for student_name and the other student_id which is the Primary Key. In my second table called ...
Hamza's user avatar
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207 votes
9 answers
204k views

Foreign Key to multiple tables

I've got 3 relevant tables in my database. CREATE TABLE dbo.Group ( ID int NOT NULL, Name varchar(50) NOT NULL ) CREATE TABLE dbo.User ( ID int NOT NULL, Name varchar(50) NOT NULL )...
Darthg8r's user avatar
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197 votes
8 answers
71k views

Storing time-series data, relational or non?

I am creating a system which polls devices for data on varying metrics such as CPU utilisation, disk utilisation, temperature etc. at (probably) 5 minute intervals using SNMP. The ultimate goal is to ...
Marcus Whybrow's user avatar
196 votes
5 answers
126k views

Relational table naming convention [closed]

I'm starting a new project and would like to get my table and column names right. For example I've always used plural in table names but recently learned singular is correct. So if I have a table user ...
Andreas's user avatar
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188 votes
6 answers
216k views

Difference between 3NF and BCNF in simple terms (must be able to explain to an 8-year old)

I have read the quote : data depends on the key [1NF], the whole key [2NF] and nothing but the key [3NF]. However, I am having trouble understanding 3.5NF or BCNF as it's called. Here is what I ...
Arnab Datta's user avatar
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180 votes
4 answers
69k views

How to design a product table for many kinds of product where each product has many parameters

I do not have much experience in table design. My goal is to create one or more product tables that meet the requirements below: Support many kinds of products (TV, Phone, PC, ...). Each kind of ...
StoneHeart's user avatar
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166 votes
12 answers
51k views

Using a Single Row configuration table in SQL Server database. Bad idea?

In developing a shopping cart application I've found that I needed to save settings and configurations based on the administrator's preferences and requirements. This information can be anything from ...
David Murdoch's user avatar
166 votes
15 answers
306k views

Difference between one-to-many and many-to-one relationship

What is the real difference between one-to-many and many-to-one relationship? It is only reversed, kind of? I can't find any 'good-and-easy-to-understand' tutorial about this topic other than this ...
Zhaf's user avatar
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162 votes
9 answers
116k views

NoSql vs Relational database [closed]

Recently NoSQL has gained immense popularity. What are the advantages of NoSQL over traditional RDBMS?
user496949's user avatar
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147 votes
8 answers
33k views

Use cases for NoSQL [closed]

NoSQL has been getting a lot of attention in our industry recently. I'm really interested in what peoples thoughts are on the best use-cases for its use over relational database storage. What should ...
robjmills's user avatar
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129 votes
14 answers
51k views

When I should use one to one relationship?

Sorry for that noob question but is there any real needs to use one-to-one relationship with tables in your database? You can implement all necessary fields inside one table. Even if data becomes very ...
Pavel Shchegolevatykh's user avatar
128 votes
8 answers
78k views

Comparison of Relational Databases and Graph Databases

Can someone explain to me the advantages and disadvantages for a relation database such as MySQL compared to a graph database such as Neo4j? In SQL you have multiple tables with various ids linking ...
user782220's user avatar
126 votes
9 answers
197k views

Why use multiple columns as primary keys (composite primary key)

This example is taken from w3schools. CREATE TABLE Persons ( P_Id int NOT NULL, LastName varchar(255) NOT NULL, FirstName varchar(255), Address varchar(255), City varchar(255), ...
rockbala's user avatar
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119 votes
9 answers
78k views

What are the uses for Cross Join?

A cross join performs a cartesian product on the tuples of the two sets. SELECT * FROM Table1 CROSS JOIN Table2 Which circumstances render such an SQL operation particularly useful?
Llyle's user avatar
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115 votes
7 answers
162k views

Difference between a theta join, equijoin and natural join

I'm having trouble understanding relational algebra when it comes to theta joins, equijoins and natural joins. Could someone please help me better understand it? If I use the = sign on a theta join is ...
maclunian's user avatar
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115 votes
8 answers
348k views

How to create relationships in MySQL

In class, we are all 'studying' databases, and everyone is using Access. Bored with this, I am trying to do what the rest of the class is doing, but with raw SQL commands with MySQL instead of using ...
Josh Hunt's user avatar
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98 votes
26 answers
36k views

How do you like your primary keys? [closed]

In a fairly animated discussion in my team I was made to think what most people like as primary keys. We had the following groups- Int/ BigInt which autoincrement are good enough primary keys. There ...
98 votes
1 answer
82k views

Modeling Product Variants

I've been trying to model product variants and thought that I might need to use EAV. I might have been able to do it without EAV, but I'm concerned that I might have missed something. Here's my design:...
StackOverflowNewbie's user avatar
85 votes
8 answers
107k views

What is the difference between a Relational and Non-Relational Database?

MySQL, PostgreSQL and MS SQL Server are relational database systems, and NoSQL, MongoDB, etc. are non-relational DBMSs. What are the differences between the two types of system?
marcamillion's user avatar
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84 votes
8 answers
83k views

Still Confused About Identifying vs. Non-Identifying Relationships

So, I've been reading up on identifying vs. non-identifying relationships in my database design, and a number of the answers on SO seem contradicting to me. Here are the two questions I am looking at:...
JasCav's user avatar
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83 votes
6 answers
86k views

Composite Primary Keys : Good or Bad?

Although one can use composite primary keys, for the case below, is it really a bad practice? The consensus on Stackoveflow seems to go both ways on this issue. Why? I want to store payments for the ...
JAX's user avatar
  • 1,560
81 votes
6 answers
53k views

Pros/cons of document-based databases vs. relational databases

I've been trying to see if I can accomplish some requirements with a document based database, in this case CouchDB. Two generic requirements: CRUD of entities with some fields which have unique ...
user2427's user avatar
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73 votes
7 answers
24k views

When shouldn't you use a relational database? [closed]

Apart from the google/bigtable scenario, when shouldn't you use a relational database? Why not, and what should you use? (did you learn 'the hard way'?)
72 votes
5 answers
49k views

Database design for user settings

Which of the following options, if any, is considered best practice when designing a table used to store user settings? (OPTION 1) USER_SETTINGS -Id -Code (example "Email_LimitMax") -Value (example ...
001's user avatar
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70 votes
3 answers
51k views

Practical example for each type of database (real cases) [closed]

There are several types of database for different purposes, however normally MySQL is used to everything, because is the most well know Database. Just to give an example in my company an application ...
daniel__'s user avatar
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70 votes
4 answers
44k views

How to persist a graph data structure in a relational database?

I've considered creating a Vertices table and an Edges table but would building graphs in memory and traversing sub-graphs require a large number of lookups? I'd like to avoid excessive database reads....
Frank Flannigan's user avatar
68 votes
10 answers
37k views

How should international geographical addresses be stored in a relational database?

Given the task of storing international geographic addresses in a relational table, what is the most flexible schema? Should every part of the address be broken out into their own fields, or should it ...
Bob's user avatar
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68 votes
5 answers
36k views

Are relational databases a poor fit for Node.js?

Recently I've been playing around with Node.js a little bit. In my particular case I wound up using MongoDB, partly because it made sense for that project because it was very simple, and partly ...
Matthew Daly's user avatar
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67 votes
3 answers
98k views

Setting up table relations what do "Cascade", "Set Null" and "Restrict" do?

I want to start using table relations in a new project. After some googling I got 2 tables set up as InnoDB: The keys I want to link are ->users->userid (primary) ->sessions->userid (index) The ...
HTDutchy's user avatar
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66 votes
8 answers
111k views

How can I find MAX with relational algebra?

Working with databases, how can I find MAX using relational algebra?
Ifiok Idiang's user avatar
66 votes
3 answers
32k views

How to organise a many to many relationship in MongoDB

I have two tables/collections; Users and Groups. A user can be a member of any number of groups and a user can also be an owner of any number of groups. In a relational database I'd probably have a ...
Typo Johnson's user avatar
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63 votes
5 answers
56k views

Database design: 3 types of users, separate or one table? [closed]

I have 3 types of users: Admins Suppliers Employees Each user type will have different user interface and access different types of data. Their only similarity is they are using one web application ...
IMB's user avatar
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63 votes
6 answers
95k views

What is the difference between MySQL & MySQL2 considering NodeJS

I have read the following: What the difference between mysql and mysql2 gem So far I have only used MongoDB with NodeJS and I want to be able to learn MySQL for any of my relational database needs. ...
Eric Bishard's user avatar
  • 5,261
61 votes
2 answers
45k views

Relational Data Model for Double-Entry Accounting

Assume there is a bank, a large shop, etc, that wants the accounting to be done correctly, for both internal accounts, and keeping track of customer accounts. Rather than implementing that which ...
Alex's user avatar
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56 votes
4 answers
53k views

What are the known ways to store a tree structure in a relational DB? [closed]

There is the "put a FK to your parent" method, i.e. each records points to it's parent. Which is a hard for read actions but very easy to maintain. And then there is a "directory structure key" ...
Itay Moav -Malimovka's user avatar
56 votes
6 answers
41k views

When to use MongoDB [closed]

I'm writing an application that doesn't necessarily need scaling abilities as it won't be collecting large amounts data at the beginning. (However, if I'm lucky, I could down the road potentially.) I ...
dez's user avatar
  • 2,255
55 votes
11 answers
190k views

What is the difference between a candidate key and a primary key?

Is it that a primary key is the selected candidate key chosen for a given table?
Celeritas's user avatar
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50 votes
4 answers
221k views

How to perform a LEFT JOIN in SQL Server between two SELECT statements?

I have two SELECT statements in SQL Server like these: (SELECT [UserID] FROM [User]) (SELECT [TailUser], [Weight] FROM [Edge] WHERE [HeadUser] = 5043) I want to perform a LEFT JOIN between these two ...
moorara's user avatar
  • 4,086
49 votes
6 answers
32k views

When to use a key-value data store vs. a more traditional relational DB? [closed]

When would one choose a key-value data store over a relational DB? What considerations go into deciding one or the other? When is mix of both the best route? Please provide examples if you can.
cdeszaq's user avatar
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46 votes
4 answers
21k views

Triple Stores vs Relational Databases [closed]

I was wondering what are the advantages of using Triple Stores over a relational database?
Sam's user avatar
  • 1,489
45 votes
3 answers
116k views

Relational vs. Dimensional Databases, what's the difference?

I'm trying to learn about OLAP and data warehousing, and I'm confused about the difference between relational and dimensional modeling. Is dimensional modeling basically relational modeling, but ...
grautur's user avatar
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40 votes
5 answers
4k views

Safe modelling of relational data in Haskell

I find it very common to want to model relational data in my functional programs. For example, when developing a web-site I may want to have the following data structure to store info about my users: ...
Rotsor's user avatar
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39 votes
5 answers
28k views

what are the advantages of defining a foreign key

What is the advantage of defining a foreign key when working with an MVC framework that handles the relation? I'm using a relational database with a framework that allows model definitions with ...
Daniel's user avatar
  • 35k
37 votes
1 answer
82k views

What is the difference between 3NF and BCNF?

Can someone please explain the difference between 3NF and BCNF to me? It would be great if you could also provide some examples. Thanks.
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