Re: Peter Chen's ER Diagramming - outdated for db design?

dananrg_at_yahoo.com wrote:
> I've read that *some people* (not me - don't shoot the questioner...)
> consider Chen's ER Diagramming method to be out of date. If that's the
> case, how specifically are ER diagrams outdated? And what are the
> allegedly better methods of diagramming for database design - and why
> are they better?
>
> Chen's ERDs seem to have done the job nicely for decades. Can anyone
> give a compelling reason or two for switching to something else?
>
> Dana

I don't think ERD diagrams are outdated BUT if you are working on OO systems the programmers will want to talk Class Diagrams etc and don't care too much about the entity relationships outside of the class interactions.

I think not caring about entity relationships is a mistake. I also think not thinking about the classes that will use the data is a mistake too. ER diagrams and Class diagrams are both important tools for different purposes.

(I hope the fence I'm sitting on doesn't collapse too soon) Received on Mon Jun 05 2006 - 00:05:52 CDT