Questions tagged [terminology]
Clarification and disambiguation of terminology in order to focus on clear, consistent, distinct, and easily recognized usages for databases and database technology.
2
votes
1answer
48 views
What is the meaning of “minimal key”?
In the definition, it says minimal key is a minimal set of attributes needed to identify the table. Does the "minimal" part mean "minimal number of attributes" or "cannot be eliminated"?
For example:
...
9
votes
1answer
74 views
What is the difference between Federated and Decentralized Data Warehouse?
I can not find any clear definitions or explanations of any of these. Both seem decentralized. It appears that in Federated DWH, the data is distributed and not integrated into a single repository and ...
1
vote
1answer
32 views
Is there a particular name for the type of structure of this database?
I'm trying to set up a data structure for an internal database of skills within a company, but I'm not entirely sure what "model" this fits as I'm quite new to databases and data structuring in ...
3
votes
2answers
174 views
What is the industry term for superset of “metrics” and “dimensions”? [closed]
If I want to refer to measures/metrics and dimensions with a single term, what would be a good industry-accepted expression?
Metrics is used commonly in UIs as well such as Google Analytics or ...
2
votes
4answers
168 views
What is a DBA's definition of “batch”?
I've heard it being used in relation to SQLite sometimes but never completely understood what it means.
0
votes
1answer
61 views
What is the technical meaning of “Bulk” in the “Bulk-Logged Recovery Model” and why this name?
With this model there are certain bulk operations such as BULK INSERT, CREATE INDEX, SELECT INTO, etc... that are not fully logged in the transaction log and therefore do not take as much space in the ...
0
votes
1answer
60 views
What is meant by “nonclustered legacy instance of SQL Server”?
When I research nonclustered legacy instance in SQL Server, all I get is some results about indexes. This is obviously not related to or affiliated with indexes, so what is meant by "clustered ...
0
votes
1answer
37 views
Difference between an endpoint and a port in SQL Server
While I know why are ports used in SQL Server, I wonder what is the difference between an endpoint and a port. Ports can be managed using Configuration Manager, is it also possible to manage endpoints ...
0
votes
1answer
48 views
What is meant by “Stand-Alone Instance of SQL Server”
I am cloning a server to perform an in-place upgrade and I will have to change the name of that server - which has a SQL Server with just one instance (default instance) installed on it.
I am ...
-3
votes
1answer
219 views
What is a “clob” or Character Large Object?
I see in this post on listagg — Rows to Delimited Strings talking about SQL's LISTAGG() clause ON OVERFLOW
The return type of listagg is either varchar or clob with an implementation defined length ...
0
votes
1answer
132 views
What does MBRContains and MBRWithin test? What does “contains” and “within” mean?
MBRContains(g1, g2) is defined as,
Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether the minimum bounding rectangle of g1 contains the minimum bounding rectangle of g2. This tests the opposite relationship as ...
4
votes
2answers
98 views
What are “Invisible Columns” and how are they used?
I saw a new feature Invisible Columns in MariaDB 10.3.x. What are practical use cases for DBA and web developer? When to use this feature?
Columns can be given an INVISIBLE attribute in a CREATE ...
3
votes
1answer
90 views
What is this expression changing process?
Consider this table definition:
CREATE TABLE [dbo].[Post]
(
[Id] INT IDENTITY(1,1) NOT NULL,
[PostType] VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL,
CONSTRAINT [CK_Post_PostType] CHECK ([PostType] IN ('...
0
votes
0answers
14 views
Name of attributes that are indirectly related to entity
If I have a set of data that relate to an entity directly and some that do not, is there a standard name for these two types of attributes?
example, Employee:
employeeID firstname lastname manager ...
5
votes
1answer
85 views
What is an “ACCESS METHOD”?
In the context of the CREATE ACCESS METHOD DDL in PostgreSQL,
CREATE ACCESS METHOD name
TYPE access_method_type
HANDLER handler_function
What is a a high level description of what an "access ...
1
vote
0answers
25 views
Schema vs Schema: Spec vs English [closed]
SQL provides for three forms of organization
CATALOG
SCHEMA
TABLE
Together we get the fully-qualified form catalog.schema.table. When making a schema-loader, is there a better way to disambiguate ...
7
votes
7answers
130 views
Term for non transaction save actions
If you only look at the database everything is fine. You have transactions and if somethings goes wrong everything gets rolled back. That's nice - I like this.
BUT: I want to send mails. Now I am in ...
1
vote
1answer
23 views
What does SPJ stand for in MySQL parlance?
MySQL has a lot of references to SPJ in MySQL including in official Oracle slides but I can't find what it actually stands for. I see it show up in a few blogs too.
I looked in the source and found ...
-1
votes
1answer
31 views
What does FHQT or FQA mean?
I was reading this post by Andres Pascal, and I came accross a few new acronyms,
As I understand, you need to search strings by similarity (using levenshtein or any other metric distance). In that ...
0
votes
1answer
569 views
Difference between UPSERT and MERGE?
From the PostgreSQL wiki,
MERGE is typically used to merge two tables, and was introduced in the 2003 SQL standard. The REPLACE statement (a MySQL extension) or UPSERT sequence attempts an UPDATE, ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views
Whats the name for columns which purpose is not to identify?
I have a contacts table.
Columns are:
id
user_id
provider_id
title
phone_number
phone_ext
I want to know if there's a word that refers to the columns that make up the meat of the table. ie. (title, ...
2
votes
1answer
52 views
Name for table with metric_name and metric_value columns
A typical database table might look something like this:
date-------geography---clicks---cost---conversions
___________________________________________________
1/1/2010---Kansas------56-------12-----...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
Heap-Organized Tables and 'Heap' the Data Structure
AFAIK, heap-organized tables, which are default in Oracle and PostgreSQL, are just tables without any clustered index.
I'm wondering where the term 'heap' got its name. It's just a pile of data, not ...
-1
votes
1answer
54 views
Authorized, all privileged DB user and a DB instance with the same name - does it have a name? [closed]
Is there a term that encompasses an authorized, all-privileged DB user and a DB instance with the same name?
Should I call this a DB stack / DB unit / DB packet / something else?
Does this "stack" ...
1
vote
2answers
121 views
What is the formal definition of a Primary Index and Primary Key?
The below is from Fundamentals of Database Systems (7th Edition)
17.1 Types of Single-Level Ordered Indexes
There are several types of ordered indexes. A primary index is specified on the ...
4
votes
2answers
1k views
Standard Meaning of “Bounce the Database” [closed]
I have been hearing the term "bounce the database" lately, and researching it, it seems that people take it to mean different things.
Most recently is was an Oracle DBA saying:
"not even the DBAs ...
2
votes
2answers
905 views
In PostgreSQL, what is the difference between a “Stored Procedure” and other types of functions?
I understand the distinction between:
Scalar functions
Set-Returning-Functions (SRF)s
Internal functions
Window functions
Aggregate functions of all sorts
User-Implemented functions (which in ...
1
vote
1answer
134 views
What is MySQL's “Implicit Default Value” and how does it work with “strict mode”?
From this question comments,
In the documentation (dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/insert.html), inserting with INSERT INTO tbl_name () VALUES(); is mentioned. It is allowed except for what the doc ...
1
vote
1answer
673 views
What is a SQL Server “GDR”?
Microsoft provides hosts two repos,
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/mssql-server-2017-gdr-xenial/
https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/mssql-server-2017-xenial/
What does GDR stand for in that ...
2
votes
1answer
342 views
What is a SQL Server “lop”?
The tool ldfreader.exe has an option called -lopFilter
-lopFilter Dump only records with these LOP. (short form: -l)
But, I don't see anything explaining what a LOP is. What is known about "...
5
votes
2answers
445 views
Is there a name for the class of characters represented by [] in SQL Server?
I am interested in the terminology for the characters you can put around table names, column names, etc. when referencing them in a query. A name that in Microsoft SQL Server would be for []s and in ...
3
votes
2answers
159 views
Is combining independent tables called normalisation?
So, at workplace, we currently store our audit logs in different tables, depending on what it is e.g. login/access info, configuration changes, etc.
These are all independent data with no foreign ...
4
votes
1answer
81 views
Are PostgreSQL clusters and servers the same thing?
From the official documentation (emphasis mine):
Chapter 22. Managing Databases
Every instance of a running PostgreSQL server manages one or more databases. Databases are therefore the topmost ...
19
votes
3answers
2k views
What is it called when you search the middle of a string instead of the beginning?
I am trying to polish up my vocabulary to better communicate with my fellow developers. We have several places in the site where we are debating if we should search for a string from the beginning '...
2
votes
2answers
73 views
Definition of “table variable” and “base table”
When reading SQL standard text (SQL:2003), I can not get the meaning of following sentence (in "Cluase 4.3 Tables" in SQL:2003-1):
SQL-data consists entirely of table variables, called base tables.
...
5
votes
2answers
2k views
PostgreSQL: Immutable, Volatile, Stable
I'm unclear about the true meaning in the definitions for IMMUTABLE, VOLATILE and STABLE functions.
I read the documentation, specifically the definitions of each.
IMMUTABLE indicates that the ...
4
votes
3answers
317 views
Scale vs. Precision - Why this definition?
From the Microsoft documentation concerning T-SQL / SQL Server:
Precision is the number of digits in a number. Scale is the number of digits to the right of the decimal point in a number. For ...
1
vote
1answer
32 views
What's the name for a table that does not hold “mutable” data?
Let's say I have a users table, and each user has a different level of privilege. I have a privileges table with four rows that looks like this:
id | level
---+-----------
1 | viewer
2 | editor
3 |...
3
votes
2answers
74 views
What are the names of these Postgres concepts?
What are the names for the concepts highlighted in the following SQL table? If Postgres has particular names for them then I'd prefer those, otherwise the general SQL names would be helpful.
I'm ...
0
votes
2answers
67 views
Using Structured Filetypes as Databases
In having a debate with a coworker it was posed that a flat file, in this case a CSV, could be considered a database. This would include XML and JSON as well. I'm interested in differing views on this....
0
votes
2answers
67 views
Common term for tenant-based keys [closed]
Assume the following schema:
ID | TENANT | TENANT_CUSTOM_ID
346 | 101 | 1
347 | 102 | 1
348 | 101 | 2
349 | 101 | 3
350 | 101 | 4
351 | 102 | 2
352 | 103 | 1
What ...
5
votes
2answers
105 views
Two primary keys but not a composite, what is this sort of relationship called?
I am integrating employee/position data with another system.
The first system is HR. It has an Employee table and a Positions table. The second system tracks office space and tracks who the office ...
25
votes
6answers
2k views
Why the term “relation(al)”?
In english, we might talk about the relation between, say, Bob and Tim. Perhaps they're cousins. The term "relation" in this context makes sense to me.
In the context of relational databases, I ...
7
votes
1answer
618 views
What are “folded” and “pivoted” tables?
The answers and discussion on questions like this one talk about folded vs pivoted tables.
eg.
The only difference between a paper presentation and a sound
electronic presentation is that a ...
5
votes
3answers
1k views
What does the word “SARGable” really mean?
SQL Server users use the term "sargable". I'm wondering if there is an objective implementation-agnostic timeless definition for "sargable."
For instance, WHERE foo LIKE '%bar%' is said by many to be ...
-1
votes
1answer
39 views
What is the name of the view in a Multiplication Table?
I have a question over this presentation of data which I do not know the name of. A multiplication table presents
two sets which may or may the identical, in the case they are [1..12]
a function ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
I cannot grasp the definition of serializable
Everybody says that
"Serializable" means that for any given set of concurrent transactions, there is a serial ordering of those transactions which produces the same result.
They also give an ...
1
vote
1answer
19 views
What is the name of this property in (SQL?) Databases?
Suppose we query Clients Table by Date of Birth, and one of the returned results being a record having client id = CID1234.
Now if we query the same table for client id = CID1234 we should get the ...
8
votes
2answers
740 views
What is the difference between integrity and consistency?
Whether I read about CAP or ACID, I see that consistency is referred to ensure the DB integrity constraints. So, I do not understand, why two terms are used to refer the same thing or there is a ...
2
votes
1answer
970 views
What does “ISO standard equivalent” actually mean?
I'm reading about comparison operators. In the documentation, Comparison Operators Modified by ANY, SOME, or ALL it says (emphasis added):
Comparison operators that introduce a subquery can be ...
