This tag is for general database questions; if you question is specific to SQL use that tag instead.
86
votes
15answers
3k views
How do you store “fuzzy dates” into a database?
This is a problem I've run into a few times. Imagine you have a record that you want to store into a database table. This table has a DateTime column called "date_created". This one particular record ...
63
votes
23answers
2k views
How do software projects go over budget and under-deliver?
I've come across this story quite a few times here in the UK:
NHS Computer System
Summary: We're spunking £12 Billion on some health software with barely anything working.
I was sitting the office ...
61
votes
16answers
4k views
Co-worker renamed all of my queries [closed]
I don't know if I should be very irritated or what. I single handedly built over 300 queries for a large database, and developed a naming convention so I could find them later. No one else in my ...
57
votes
13answers
4k views
Why use a database instead of just saving your data to disk?
Instead of a database I just serialize my data to JSON, saving and loading it to disk when necessary. All the data management is made on the program itself, which is faster AND easier than using SQL ...
51
votes
6answers
2k views
Is this a ridiculous way to structure a DB schema, or am I completely missing something?
I have done a fair bit of work with relational databases, and think I understand the basic concepts of good schema design pretty well. I recently was tasked with taking over a project where the DB was ...
45
votes
12answers
2k views
Database source control
Should database files(scripts etc.) be on source control?
If so, what is the best method to keep it and update it there?
Is there even a need for database files to be on source control since we can ...
38
votes
12answers
8k views
Is it a bad practice to store large files (10 MB) in a database? [closed]
I am currently creating a web application that allows users to store and share files, 1 MB - 10 MB in size.
It seems to me that storing the files in a database will significantly slow down ...
37
votes
12answers
2k views
Should experienced programmers know database queries?
There are so many programmers out there who are also an expert at Query writing and Database design.
Should this be a core requirement to be an expert programmer or software engineer?
Though there ...
35
votes
12answers
2k views
Is it necessary to create a database with as few tables as possible
Should we create a database structure with a minimum number of tables?
Should it be designed in a way that everything stays in one place or is it okay to have more tables?
Will it in anyway affect ...
35
votes
11answers
2k views
Is there any reason not to go directly from client-side Javascript to a database? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Writing Web “server less” applications
So, let's say I'm going to build a Stack Exchange clone and I decide to use something like CouchDB as my backend store. If I use ...
29
votes
11answers
10k views
SQL: empty string vs NULL value
I know this subject is a bit controversial and there are a lot of various articles/opinions floating around the internet. Unfortunatelly, most of them assume the person doesn't know what the ...
27
votes
11answers
1k views
Why don't relational databases support returning information in a nested format?
Suppose I'm building a blog that I want to have posts and comments. So I create two tables, a 'posts' table with an autoincrementing integer 'id' column, and a 'comments' table that has a foreign key ...
21
votes
5answers
4k views
When would someone use MongoDB (or similar) over traditional RDMS?
Im a bit confused......the whole NoSQL and such.
When would you choose to use something like MongoDB over something like Oracle or MYSQL?
I dont really understand....the "difference" as far as usage ...
20
votes
8answers
3k views
Create my own database system [closed]
I need to learn how databases work in order to use them more efficiently, and my way of learning is by doing.
I want to create my own database system. I am not referring to creating a pseudo-database ...
19
votes
6answers
2k views
Front end first or Back end first. Of the two which is a Good system design pratice?
I have a client right now requiring me to develop a school enrollment system. Now this is the first time im having this kind of challenge. Most of the past software that i created are not that ...
18
votes
17answers
1k views
Why aren't databases integrated as a language feature?
Are there any programming languages that have a built-in database as a first-class language feature rather than connecting to an external SQL (or other) database? What would be the drawbacks and ...
18
votes
3answers
3k views
Difference between REST and CRUD
I learned REST and it feels a lot like CRUD (from what I have read about CRUD).
I know they are different, and I wonder if thinking they are similar means I don't understand them.
Is it that REST is ...
18
votes
4answers
775 views
How do you decide what kind of database to use?
I really dislike the name "NoSQL", because it isn't very descriptive. It tells me what the databases aren't where I'm more interested in what the databases are. I really think that this category ...
16
votes
7answers
3k views
How to suggest using an ORM instead of stored procedures?
I work at a company that only uses stored procedures for all data access, which makes it very annoying to keep our local databases in sync as every commit we have to run new procs. I have used some ...
16
votes
7answers
588 views
De-facto standards for customer information record
I'm currently evaluating a potential new project that involves creating a DB for typical customer information (userid, pwd, first & last name, email, adress, telfnr ...). At this point, ...
16
votes
4answers
345 views
Database abstraction — is it being overdone?
After being exposed to numerous database abstraction layers, I'm starting to wonder what the point is of every library inventing their own different paradigm to access data. Picking up a new DAL feels ...
15
votes
9answers
1k views
Constraints in a relational databases - Why not remove them completely?
Is there any reason to build constraints between tables (inside SQLserver) nowadays? If so, when? Most applications in my area are built on object principles and tables are joined on demand. Demand ...
15
votes
9answers
1k views
Should I try persistence in flat file before database?
Somebody explained to me that since in agile development, policy and the application logic should be more important than details such as persistence method, persistence decision should be taken at the ...
15
votes
9answers
2k views
What are the advantages of storing xml in a relational database?
I was poking around the AdventureWorks database today and I noticed that a number of tables (HumanResources.JobCandidate and Sales.Individual for example) have a column which is storing xml data.
...
14
votes
5answers
442 views
Is having functionality in DB a road block to scalability?
I may not be able to give the right title to the question. But here it is,
We are developing financial portal for wealth management. We are expecting over 10000 clients to use the application. The ...
14
votes
6answers
562 views
Does it make sense to standardize including a created date and last updated date field on all DB tables?
My boss is currently attempting to apply some development standards to our team, so we had a meeting yesterday to discuss the standards which was mostly going well until she brought up:
All DB ...
13
votes
5answers
876 views
Is it the job of programmers to design the database?
I've been a programmer for the past six years. Throughout my career, I have worked on many web applications.
Most of the time, when a database was needed, it was given to us (the programmers) or we ...
13
votes
6answers
567 views
What do DBAs do?
Yes, I know they administrate databases.
I asked this question because I'd like to get a further insight into the kind of day-to-day duties a DBA might perform, and the real-world business problems ...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
How to store prices that have effective dates?
I have a list of products. Each of them is offered by N providers.
Each providers quotes us a price for a specific date. That price is effective until that provider decides to set a new price. In ...
12
votes
6answers
1k views
Do You Still Need Indexing After Database Normalization
After you have done a good normalization, do you still need to index the table? How is this going to affect the performance? Will it even affect the performance in some way after a good normalization? ...
