Database design, help :)

[Andrew]

Hi,

I am posting because I am looking for information on mySQL database design. I have not had a database class, so I really dont know the proper way to build an efficient database. Could someone please post a tutorial, guide, or a good ebook that can help me? I have no money to purchase a book so I am looking for something free. Thanks for your help!

Cheers,
Andrew

 

[MattW]

It depends on what you are trying to achieve with the database. Will it be a relational database? MySQL? Access?

 

[Andrew]

mySQL

Something like this:

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I can google this topic all day and I know I will find good information. However, if anyone has sources they prefer over others, then that is what I am looking for. I have been learning programming for the past ten months, and I am starting to get pretty good at it (still a noob) and I want to know how to build efficient mySQL database designs.

 

[MattW]

I know you've already mentioned that you've no money to purchase a book, but in the long run, I always refer back to mine

Really good online resource is W3Schools http://www.w3schools.com/sql/

 

[Walter]

http://www.databaseprimer.com is built with Xenforo and contains some useful information about normalization and referential integrity.

 

[RickM]

DB Design can be a bit of a pain, it takes great planning to get it spot on, and half the time you can expect to change it as you go. Books are handy, but tend to only go so far and when you need a quick answer, aren't much good. Places like Stackoverflow are great for these kinds of situations.

I recently started using MySQL Workbench to build, and draw my databases. You can create all the databases then generate a decent enough EER Diagram. They can get pretty big and complex, but as you get going it becomes a much easier way of visualising how your data is going to be stored.

Here's a screenshot from the (in progress) EER that I'm working on - intentionally zoomed out to hide the names but you can get an idea of just how good it is at mapping it all out for you.

Once you've finished designing it in Workbench you can sync it to a local or remote MySQL database too

It's completely free to use, more info here: http://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/