A computer database is organized in tables with a parent-child relationship. A network model database allows for multiple parent and child tables, resulting in a more natural graphical structure. It allows for a more realistic representation of the relationship between tables, but is largely obsolete in modern database design. Relational databases allow end users to enter data directly using key values.
A computer database is organized in tables, which generally refer to a list of records that share some points in common. In a standard hierarchical database model, tables are related to each other based on a parent and child relationship, where a parent table can have multiple children, but a child table cannot have multiple parents. For example, the “Employees” table – the parent table – could be further split into two child tables: “Current Workers” and “Past Workers”. A network model database offers an alternative to this parent and child limitation. In a network model database, any single table can have both multiple child tables and multiple parent tables, resulting in a more natural graphical structure between entities in the database.
The main advantage of a network model database is that it allows for a more realistic representation of the relationship between tables. Trying to squeeze table arrangements into a single parent model can be restrictive, especially when two or more tables can equally be considered parent categories. Continuing the previous example, while the “Employees” table was used as a parent for both the “Current Workers” and “Past Workers” tables, an “Independent Contractors” table would serve equally well as a parent to both, or even both. By setting up the network model, the end user can structure the database so that both “Employees” and “Independent Contractors” are parents of the “Current Workers” and “Past Workers” tables.
Tables in a network model database can be represented graphically, listing each table name individually, starting with the highest-level parent tables at the top of the graph and proceeding down to the most dependent child tables at the bottom. Each parent-child relationship can be represented by drawing a line between related tables. This allows database designers to more easily understand the connection between entities.
While the network model allows for a more realistic representation of the relationships between data entities, it is largely obsolete in modern database design. The escalation of hardware performance for computers has allowed larger organizations to evolve towards what is called a relational database model, which allows end users to enter data directly using key values instead of focusing solely on the parent-child relationship . For example, an employee list in a relational database model might have the employee name listed as a key value. This links the employee list to all other tables containing the employee’s name, allowing you to retrieve all information about that employee at once, regardless of which table contains it.
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