Leveraging the modeling toolkit

Before we continue, we need to formally delineate three distinct concepts often used together in the service of modeling to make it simpler to refer to a specific tool in the modeling toolkit in later sections. By understanding where each piece fits in the broader domain of database design and management, diving into deeper technical concepts later in the book will become more meaningful and easier to digest.

The three components are listed here:

• Natural language semantics—words
• Technical semantics—SQL
• Visual semantics—diagrams

Let’s discuss each of these in detail, as follows:

• Natural language semantics: Terminology employed in communicating details of a model between people. These are agreed-upon words that employ pre-defined conventions to encapsulate more complex concepts in simpler terms. For example, when both parties involved in a verbal exchange understand the concept...