Establishing Table Structures - Database Design for Mere Mortals - page 155

Students—those individuals whoattend ourclasses. The informa-
tionprovidedbythedataintheStudentstable allowsourorganiz-
ation to further promote our classes and supports proper commu-
nications with the students.
John then writes a description for each table on the Final Table List. When he's finished,
he'll speak with Mark, Frits, Sara, and Caroline once more to make sure the descriptions
are acceptable and that everyone understands them without any difficulty.
Associating Fields with Each Table
In Chapter 3 you learned that tables are composed of fields. During this stage of the data-
base design process, you'll assign fields to each table on the Final Table List using fields
from your Preliminary Field List.
Assigning fields to a table is a relatively easy process: Determine which fields best repres-
entcharacteristicsofthetable'ssubjectandassignthemtothattable.Repeatthisprocedure
foreverytableontheFinalTableList.Ifyouthinkyoucanuseafieldorsetoffieldstorep-
resent characteristics ofmore than onetable, then assign them accordingly.You'll discover
whether you've assigned the appropriate fields to each table later when you go through the
process of refining the table structures.
Note
Inthefollowingexamples,you'llnotethatIaskyoutousesheetsofpaperforspe-
cific procedures. Using paper helps you avoid the temptation of using an RDBMS
program to design your database. I cannot overemphasize or overstate the fact
that you should not use the computer at all until the database design process is
complete unless you're using some type of database-design-specific software. By
heeding this advice, you will avoid the traps I discuss later in Chapter 14 “ Bad
Design—What Not to Do . ”
Begin this process by taking a sheet of legal paper and laying it in front of you lengthwise
from left to right. Write the name of each table (from the Final Table List) across the top
of the paper, starting at the left-hand side; leave enough space between the table names to
give you enough room to list lengthy field names underneath them. Repeat this procedure,
using as many sheets as you need to account for every table on the list. Continuing with
the school database example, Figure 7.10 shows the set of table structures currently under
development.