SQL Anywhere is a relational database management system. This chapter introduces the basic concepts of relational databases and gives you step-by-step suggestions for designing your database.
While designing a database is not a difficult task for small and medium sized databases, it is an important one. Bad database design can lead to an inefficient and possibly unreliable database system. As client applications are built to work on specific parts of a database, and rely on the database design, a bad design can be difficult to revise at a later date.
This chapter is not specific to SQL Anywhere. If you already have a database, you may wish to go to the next chapter.
This chapter covers database design in a cursory manner. For more information, you may wish to consult an introductory book such as A Database Primer by C. J. Date. If you are interested in pursuing database theory, C. J. Date's An Introduction to Database Systems is an excellent textbook on the subject.