In my experience, the most important thing is consistency. Almost
everything else is a matter of taste.
For instance, some folks like to name columns with the table name as a
prefix on every column (except foreign keys):
create table a(
a_id int,
a_value varchar(64),
a_created datetime
);
create table b (
b_id int,
a_id int references a.a_id
b_value varchar(128),
b_created datetime
);
This is a smart thing to do as every column, across all tables, has a
unique name (unless it's a foreign key)
However, it can create a lot of typing, which can be annoying.
On the other hand, you can be more concise:
create table a(
id int,
value varchar(64)
created datetime
);
create table b(
id int,
value varchar(64),
created datetime
);
This saves some typing, but can create annoying ambiguity. Join
operations end up requiring more specific selection critera (SELECT
a.title as a_title, b.title as b_title).
I used to use the former method almost exclusively. However, as I
started playing with various frameworks, I've switched to the latter
as those I've worked with kind of expect it. Probably because various
_call() based magic ends up looking nicer in userland code.
If you have more specific considerations, feel free to get more
specific.
-Tim
On Sep 12, 2009, at 8:17 PM, m...@atopia.net wrote:
Does anyone have any good naming conventions for mysql databases and
tables and columns? I'm developing a complex lamp project now, and
my normal convention doesn't seem to want to work too well for this
project - there are a few conflicts.
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