About This Document

This document describes the SokweDB data management system, it’s features and capabilities. This includes the system design principals, a description of the database’s tables, and the intended usage of related programs. It does not describe the procedures used to enter data into the system or extract data from it. Nor does it describe the details of how to operate all related programs, or maintain the underlying software.

Conventions

In other words, this document describes the system’s capabilities. How to use the system on a day-to-day basis, which features are used in which ways, and similar, are to be found elsewhere.[1]

This section describes the conventions used within this document, which also speaks to the conventions of the overall database design.

There are a number of conventions regarding character case. The database is case insensitive when it comes to the names used to identify content – table names and column names and so forth.[2] Within this document schema names are written with an initial capital letter, table and view names are written in all upper case, and column names are written with initial capital letters.

Unless otherwise noted all columns must contain a value. Note that an empty string, the series of characters consisting of zero characters, is a value. The empty string[3] is a string and so it is reasonable to compare it with other non-empty strings. The empty string is distinct from NULL[4], which means “no information”, and is used when there is no value/no data at all.

Data consistency is guaranteed only when the guarantee is explicitly mentioned.[5] Care must be taken when updating data unless there is an explicit guarantee of data consistently.

This document uses a particular vocabulary, which informs the table names within the database. The selection of the vocabulary is based on the terminology in use at the JGI and may need some study for those not familiar with it.

A Guide for the Reader

This is a reference document, and as such is not expected to be read from front-to-back.

Care must be taken when querying columns which allow NULL values. SQL uses a three valued logic, the values being TRUE, FALSE, and NULL. This only comes into play when a NULL value is encountered but can be a particularly important factor when a single query relates multiple tables.

Footnotes

[1]

The wiki, found at https://sokwe.janegoodall.org/, is a good place to document day-to-day procedures and practices.

[2]

To be precise, unless special steps are taken the database, and SQL, is case-insensitive when it comes to names.

[3]

Written '' in SQL.

[4]

Written NULL in SQL.

[5]

The notations in the Entity Relationship Diagrams are dense in constraints, constraints built into the database, which ensure data integrity.

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