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The database schema is the structure of a database described in a formal language supported typically by a relational database management system (RDBMS). The term " schema " refers to the organization of data as a blueprint of how the database is constructed (divided into database tables in the case of relational databases ).
A relation can thus be seen as an instantiation of a relation schema if it has the heading of that schema and it satisfies the applicable constraints. Sometimes a relation schema is taken to include a name. [5] [6] A relational database definition (database schema, sometimes referred to as a relational schema) can thus be thought of as a ...
This is also called a foreign key constraint, which is important to keep data from being duplicated and have relationships within the database stay reliable as more information is added. Many-to-many relationships are not able to be used in relational databases and must be converted to one-to-many relationships.
For example, think of A as Authors, and B as Books. An Author can write several Books, and a Book can be written by several Authors. In a relational database management system, such relationships are usually implemented by means of an associative table (also known as join table, junction table or cross-reference table), say, AB with two one-to-many relationships A → AB and B → AB.
The relational algebra uses set union, set difference, and Cartesian product from set theory, and adds additional constraints to these operators to create new ones.. For set union and set difference, the two relations involved must be union-compatible—that is, the two relations must have the same set of attributes.
The entity–relationship model proposes a technique that produces entity–relationship diagrams (ERDs), which can be employed to capture information about data model entity types, relationships and cardinality. A Crow's foot shows a one-to-many relationship. Alternatively a single line represents a one-to-one relationship. [4]
A Bachman diagram is a certain type of data structure diagram, [2] and is used to design the data with a network or relational "logical" model, separating the data model from the way the data is stored in the system. The model is named after database pioneer Charles Bachman, and mostly used in computer software design.
Consequently, the ER model becomes an abstract data model, [1] that defines a data or information structure that can be implemented in a database, typically a relational database. Entity–relationship modeling was developed for database and design by Peter Chen and published in a 1976 paper, [2] with variants of the idea existing previously. [3]