Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Document-oriented databases frequently store the business subject in
one structure called a “document.” For example, instead of storing title
and author information in two distinct relational structures, title, author,
and other title-related information can all be stored in a single document
called
Title
. Document-oriented is much more application focused, as
opposed to table oriented which is more data focused. MongoDB is a
document-based database.
document-ori-
ented
A domain is the complete set of all possible values that an attribute may
be assigned. A domain is a set of validation criteria that can be applied
to more than one attribute.
domain
An entity represents a collection of information about something that the
business deems important and worthy of capture. A noun or noun phrase
identifies a specific entity. It fits into one of several categories: who,
what, when, where, why, or how.
entity
Entity instances are the occurrences or values of a particular entity. The
entity
Customer
may have multiple customer instances with names
Bob, Joe, Jane, and so forth. The entity
Account
can have instances
of Bob's checking account, Bob's savings account, Joe's brokerage ac-
count, and so on.
entity instance
The concept of a physical attribute (also called a column or field) in re-
lational databases is equivalent to the concept of a field in MongoDB.
MongoDB fields contain two parts, a field name and a field value.
field
A foreign key is an attribute that provides a link to another entity. A for-
eign key allows a database management system to navigate from one en-
tity to another.
foreign key
forward engin-
eer
The process of building a new application by starting from the concep-
tual data model and ending with a database.
