Grokking Relational Database Design and Modeling
Schema design, normalisation, indexing and the modelling decisions that determine whether a system is pleasant or painful three years in. The data model outlives every other decision in a codebase.
Course
Web Development
Design Gurus
2 to 3 weeks
Intermediate
Subscription
Why the data model matters most
Application code gets rewritten. Frameworks get replaced. The schema, once it has production data in it, is close to permanent, and every awkward query for the next five years traces back to a modelling decision made in the first week.
What it covers
Entity and relationship modelling, the normal forms and when denormalising is correct rather than lazy, primary and foreign keys, indexing including composite and covering indexes, transactions and isolation levels, and the standard modelling problems such as hierarchies, many to many relationships and soft deletion.
How to use it
Model something real, ideally a system you have worked on, and then write the five queries the product actually needs. Schemas look fine until you try to query them.
Best for: backend engineers, and anyone who has inherited a schema they cannot explain.
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