Xref: utzoo comp.databases:4747 comp.lang.c:25321
Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!targon!ruud
From: ruud@targon.UUCP (Ruud Harmsen)
Newsgroups: comp.databases,comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: How do you name table/structure elements?
Message-ID: <947@targon.UUCP>
Date: 22 Jan 90 09:09:08 GMT
References: <1990Jan16.170217.16718@aqdata.uucp> <27885@sequent.UUCP>
Reply-To: ruud@targon.UUCP (Ruud Harmsen)
Organization: Nixdorf Computer BV., SWP, P.O. Box 29,Vianen, The Netherlands
Lines: 24

In article <27885@sequent.UUCP> jsc@crg4.UUCP (J. Scott Carr) writes:
>My preference is to prepend text that identifies the object the 
>column belongs to.  The intention is that the core of the field name
>represents the attribute, the prefix the object.  This is most important
>with keys.  For example, part number in a parts table and a orders table
>are the same attribute.  Naming the columns PRT_PARTNO and ORD_PARTNO 
>helps clarify complex selects and joins, as well as the data dictionary.

I disagree.  Especially in the data dictionary this won't clarify things,
but rather mistifies them, because it won't be clear that most of what
you could describe about PRT_PARTNO is also valid for ORD_PARTNO, unless
you duplicate the description, or maintain pointers in the text.
I think PARTNO is the "data element", and should therefore be the basis
for the datadictionary.  PARTNO as occurring in ORD and PRT are "data items".

I think that it is superfluous to prepend anything, because both in the
programming language and in the database query language a reference to
the object is already there:
- E.g. in C, you would have a structure type corresponding to the object.
  so you write: prt.partno and ord.partno (or something similar with ->)

- In SQL, the join can be done with something like:
  ... WHERE PRT.PARTNO = ORD.PARTNO
  where PRT and ORD identify the tables, and PARTNO the attributes.