Greenguy's Board - View Single Post

MadCat · 2009-01-02, 07:35 AM

One word of advice I can give as far as database schema design goes, try picking column names that can't be mistaken for a reserved word.

Avoid the nonsensical 'strName' or 'intId' shit that gets taught in some schools, people teaching that sort of naming practices are retarded.

An example for a webmaster-style table would be:

Code:

CREATE TABLE webmaster (
  webmaster_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  nickname VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
  email VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL,
  icq VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
  aim VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
  skype varchar(32) NOT NULL,
  notes TEXT NOT NULL,
  forcing BOOLEAN NOT NULL,
  UNIQUE(email),
);

Using "not null" everywhere does mean that if someone doesn't enter an ICQ address that you must replace it with something such as "no icq" before doing the insert. Avoiding NULL in your tables is a good thing(tm).

Also for columns that hold some sort of flag that indicates an action (I guess in this case you are forcing something on that webmaster), try using it as I did, don't say "force", say "forcing", or heck, "is_forcing", or "is_forcing_trade".

The extra readability you get v.s. the amount of extra typing you have to do is worth it though

2009-01-02, 07:35 AM	#6
MadCat If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Berlin, Germany Posts: 247	One word of advice I can give as far as database schema design goes, try picking column names that can't be mistaken for a reserved word. Avoid the nonsensical 'strName' or 'intId' shit that gets taught in some schools, people teaching that sort of naming practices are retarded. An example for a webmaster-style table would be: Code: CREATE TABLE webmaster ( webmaster_id INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, nickname VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL, email VARCHAR(128) NOT NULL, icq VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL, aim VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL, skype varchar(32) NOT NULL, notes TEXT NOT NULL, forcing BOOLEAN NOT NULL, UNIQUE(email), ); Using "not null" everywhere does mean that if someone doesn't enter an ICQ address that you must replace it with something such as "no icq" before doing the insert. Avoiding NULL in your tables is a good thing(tm). Also for columns that hold some sort of flag that indicates an action (I guess in this case you are forcing something on that webmaster), try using it as I did, don't say "force", say "forcing", or heck, "is_forcing", or "is_forcing_trade". The extra readability you get v.s. the amount of extra typing you have to do is worth it though __________________ What's blue and not heavy?