Creating a simple database schema

Question

I'm new to SQL and could use some help in creating a database schema for my program, which manages and installs programs for my home network. Are there any guidelines/tutorials for creating database schemas?

Answer 1

Probably the most important concept to understand before you design your schema (you'll thank yourself for it later, trust me! :-) is that of Normalisation. The tutorial at db.grussell.org doesn't look too shabby and will give you a good grounding. In fact, if you click the "Up One Level" link and take a look around, some of the other information might be quite useful as well.

My "top tip" is: Write it down on paper or in notepad, or anything other than a database, before you start writing code. Get a good idea of what you need your schema to be able to do before you set it in stone (And by "set it in stone" I mean, realise that you've written a load of code against the schema that would have to be re-written if you change it to do what you've just realised you now need).