ER and EER Mapping to Relational Schema

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts from the lecture on ER and EER mapping to relational schema.

ER-to-Relational Mapping

A process of converting an Entity-Relationship model into a relational database schema.

Weak Entity Type

An entity that cannot be uniquely identified by its attributes alone and relies on a foreign key relationship.

Foreign Key

An attribute in one table that links to the primary key of another table, establishing a relationship.

Mapping Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure used for converting ER models to relational schema.

Binary 1:1 Relationship

A relationship where each instance of one entity is related to exactly one instance of another entity.

Multivalued Attribute

An attribute that can hold multiple values for a single entity.

N-ary Relationship

A relationship that involves three or more entities.

Composite Attribute

An attribute that can be divided into smaller sub-components.

Entity Type

A category of objects with a distinct existence in the database.

Surrogate Key

A unique identifier for an entity that is not derived from application data.

Relationship Relation

A special table used to represent relationships between two or more entity types.

Cardinality Constraints

Rules defining the number of instances of one entity that can be associated with instances of another entity.

Disjoint Specialization

A form of specialization in which each instance of a superclass can only belong to one subclass.

Option 8A

Mapping approach which uses multiple relations to represent superclass and subclasses.

Generalization

The process of abstracting shared characteristics from two or more entities into a generalized superclass.

Dependents Attribute

An attribute describing individuals related or dependent on an entity, such as children of employees.