Universal relation assumption

The universal relation assumption in relational databases states, that one can place all data attributes into a (possibly very wide) table, which may then be decomposed into smaller tables as needed.^[1]

However, the assumption that a single large table can capture real database designs is often plagued with a number of difficulties.^[2] The "nested universal relation" model has attempted to address some of the problems and offer improvements.^[3]

References

1. ↑ I. T. Hawryszkiewycz, Database analysis and design, 1984. ISBN 0-574-21485-2, pages 59-62.
2. ↑ Carlo Zaniolo, Advances in database technology--EDBT 2000, 2000. ISBN 3-540-67227-3, page 276
3. ↑ Mark Levene, The nested universal relation database model, 2000. ISBN 3-540-55493-9, pages 1-5.

External links

• Who won the Universal Relation wars? by Alberto Mendelzon