Guidelines for developers working with Databases

• Should follow the Hungarian Style in naming the Database name (SQL server), Schema name(Oracle), field/column name in the respective databases.

Example:
EmployeeName ------ Correct
EmpName, empname, emp_name ------ Incorrect

• If the Column/Table name exceeds more than 30 characters the developer can go for abbreviated names, but it should be completely relevant to the work what the table is doing.
For Example: The ProjectSpecificPreferencesDetails Table can be named ProjSpecPrefDetails, which is meaningful and also satisfies the field/column’s length.

• Avoid using UnderScores( _ ) while naming Columns and Tables.

• Should use the concepts of Stored Procedures (SQL Server), Procedures (Oracle),
Functions, Triggers where ever necessary in the database design Try to avoid unnecessary connections in the database server in a loop. Using Procedures,
Functions and Triggers solves this problem. Another alternative is to get the whole data into the client and try to solve the problem in the client level only, instead of interacting with the server for several times in a loop.

• Should follow the Normalization concepts properly. Try to achieve the Third Normal Form for the data base which is designed, it is considered to be more efficient.(Normal Forms are discussed below)

• No table in the database should be independent. Every table should be related with one or the other table.

• Should follow the concept of index in the database. Multiple indexing is advisable if there is an assumption of storing huge data. Retrieval of data will be faster if indexes are used.

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J.Vijayanand