Quote:
Prompt me, what for need "primary key" in the database table? |
Logical identification of an entity.
A key, by definition, is an attribute or set of attributes which can
uniquely identify an entity in the conceptual model. In the logical
representation, a column or set of columns which can uniquely identify a row
in a table is termed as a key. In practice, an entity may have many such
candidates for key ( hence called candidate key ), however for practical
purposes one out of those candidate keys has to be considered primal ( hence
called primary key ). The considerations should include Familiarity (
meaningful & familiar to the user ), Stability ( should not be altered
frequently ), Simplicity ( so that relational expressions can be effective )
and Irreducibility ( or Minimality which loosely suggests no subset of the
key should uniquely identify a row in the table )
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Anith