Mike Sherrill 'Catcall'

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location United States
age 57
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Long-time database design and software development consultant. My clients included evetrything from Fortune 100 companies to non-profits and mom-and-pop companies. I've worked with SQL databases since 1985. I'm a database generalist; I'm comfortable with every modern SQL dbms. My home server runs a half-dozen different database management systems. I test most of my answers under more than one of them.

I've also developed relational models for implementation in non-SQL environments, like Lotus Notes and plain C++ code.

I'm known for frequently saying

  • ID numbers have nothing to do with normalization.
  • Everything you know about state codes is wrong.
  • Table names, column names, etc., are your database's API.
  • Natural keys reduce the number of joins, and often improve performance.
  • 5NF is your friend.
  • Don't assume. Test.

130 Answers

newest activity votes
2
Does this design satisfy 3NF, and can any improvements be made?
jan 30 at 4:05
2
Is there a way to avoid duplicating the definition of a foreign key?
jan 29 at 2:26
2
Importance of ER Diagrams
jan 26 at 0:56
2
How to create unique index for month and year column?
jan 4 at 14:06
2
Design database to query a date range for scheduling
dec 14 at 14:42
2
Broken SELECT in Sql Server Compact 3.5 SP2?
nov 5 at 14:08
2
Data type for a fuzzy date?
sep 11 at 19:46
2
What is the best practice for physical deployment of data marts?
jul 26 at 13:34
2
PostgreSQL Database Migration
apr 10 '12 at 8:37
2
~15 data sets w/ 25k rows & ~20 columns + quick one time reports = Access VS SQL?
mar 7 '12 at 20:12
2
Some Ideas In Database Design
feb 11 '12 at 2:17
2
Boyce Codd Normal Form understanding
jan 17 '12 at 13:48
2
6th normal form, Recomposition query, efficient implementation
dec 9 '11 at 16:13
2
Need to Check if a Table Exists Before Deleting a Record
oct 9 '11 at 20:01
2
Representing N:N relation as a functional dependency in a database design
oct 6 '11 at 18:50
2
What are the performance considerations between using a broad PK vs a separate synthetic key and UQ?
oct 5 '11 at 1:00
2
Benefits of table level locking
sep 16 '11 at 16:46
2
Does an Oracle nvarchar2 take twice as much space as varchar2?
sep 8 '11 at 17:57
2
Optimizing InnoDB default settings
aug 4 '11 at 15:42
2
Design of fact table(s) and dimensions tables for data warehouse
jun 22 '11 at 11:07
2
Tools to migrate from SQLite to PostgreSQL
may 6 '11 at 1:35
2
How do I rule out SQL Server as the reason for a slow website
apr 27 '11 at 12:42
2
COUNT(*) on InnoDB whenever phpMyAdmin loads
mar 1 '11 at 12:27
1
Enforce indirect relationship
apr 25 at 18:02
1
In Postgresql, is it possible to change the maximum number of columns a table can have?
apr 17 at 14:33
1
Proper indexes or anything else to optimize
apr 14 at 17:22
1
How to enforce full integer (no floating point)?
apr 8 at 15:32
1
Limiting number of results in a Partition using OVER(PARTITION BY)
apr 1 at 0:56
1
Foreign Key constraint on fixed value field - Ever appropriate?
mar 25 at 15:55
1
Database Design Relationship for Patient Visit in MS Access
mar 18 at 15:57
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