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SQL Antipatterns
book

SQL Antipatterns

by Bill Karwin
June 2010
Intermediate to advanced
328 pages
7h 51m
English
Pragmatic Bookshelf
Content preview from SQL Antipatterns

How to Recognize the Antipattern

The following phrases may indicate that the Metadata Tribbles antipattern is growing in your database:

  • “Then we need to create a table (or column) per …”

    When you describe your database with phrases using per in this way, you’re splitting tables by distinct values in one of the columns.

  • “What’s the maximum number of tables (or columns) that the database supports?”

    Most brands of database can handle many more tables and columns than you would need, if you used a sensible database design. If you think you might exceed the maximum, it’s a strong sign that you need to rethink your design.

  • “We found out why the application failed to add new data this morning: we forgot to create a new table for the new year.” ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9781680500073Errata Page