Customer Reviews

Designing Quality Databases With Idef1X Information Models

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This book is the best-written database design book I have come across. It should be part of every database designer and application developer's library.

This book focuses on information models using the IDEF1X information modeling technique. This text presents a very practical approach for modeling data and relational database design. Although this isn't a database administration book, DBA's would benefit from understanding how the databases they support are designed. This is a book for the masses.

IDEF1X is by far the most used DB modeling language today. Books and papers, however, rarely approach it. Bruce's book is a fine piece of work. Excellent on the details of modeling - for instance, his discussion on the adoption of surrogate (artificial) keys is enlightening. Even the less technical stuff is excellent (the text on the ANSI-SPARC architecture is the best I ever read). Great book for someone who wants to develop modeling expertise.

Tom Bruce's book is a classic. This book is really about data modeling as an approach for relational database design, but I think data modeling works as an analysis technique on its own. Logic Works used to ship this book with new ERwin purchases back in the mid 90s, and this was how I first encountered the book.

Most of what I picked up as a new data management professional back then, say 80%, was due to this book. It is well organized, consistent and orderly. It pays homage to Zachman's framework while positioning data modeling in the SDLC. Most everything in this book is STILL relevant today. Entity naming, data typing and even more advanced ideas like key unification are all covered. Mr. Bruce talks about the importance of data-centered systems design, and then ably presents a way to bring these ideas to bear.

Don't get me wrong; I really don't much care for the IDEF1X syntax with dashed relationship lines, balls and diamonds. I think the IDEF1X modeling phases are not so useful. But if you are looking for a place to get data modeling 101, this book may well do it better than most.