[thelist] mapping out an oracle database

Luther, Ron Ron.Luther at hp.com
Fri Feb 26 11:26:05 CST 2010


Jeremy Weiss noted:

>>Nor do they name the same data the same thing. It might be
>>blue_widget_id in one table and be called inventory_id in another, yet
>>be the same data.

Hi Jeremy,

Ouch!  Yup, see it happen all the time. (Although usually it's more similar names - like "Part_Number" in one table matching to "Part_Nbr" in another table and matching to "Part_ID" in a third table and matching to "Sku_ID" in a fourth table.)

You can also run into the case where the same name in used for different things!  And not just the 'easy' cases where "Name" and "Address" in the PO table refer to the supplier and "Name" and "Address" in the SO table refer to the customer.  Or the 'annoying' cases where every blessed table has a ubiquitous "ID", "Sequence_No", or "Flag" field.  Nope, sometimes it can be hard to figure out whether fields with the same name are different or not.

But this bologna just *kills* automated tools.

Haphazard design ensures manual documentation.  

I feel your pain.

Good Luck,
RonL.

(Who won't even mention SAP where all the backend field names are in shorthand German! Vwerk?  I gotcher Vwerk right here buddy!)



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