Usage-Driven Database Design: From Logical Data Modeling through Physical Schema Definition

© George Tillmann 2017

George Tillmann, Usage-Driven Database Design, 10.1007/978-1-4842-2722-0_2

2. The E-R Approach

George Tillmann¹ 

(1)Ship Bottom, New Jersey, USA

The sciences do not try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models. By a model is meant a mathematical construct which, with the addition of certain verbal interpretations, describes observed phenomena.

—John von Neumann

What is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures?

—Lewis Carroll

In 1992, Dorothy Keenan, a social worker in Catawba County, North Carolina, had a problem. She was interviewing a boy named Douglas about his family history. As Douglas talked about his relatives, Dorothy took notes. After the interview, Douglas reviewed her notes ...