Data modeling

Data modeling is the act of exploring data-oriented structures.  Like other modeling artifacts data models can be used for a variety of purposes, from high-level conceptual models to physical data models.  From the point of view of an object-oriented developer data modeling is conceptually similar to class modeling. With data modeling you identify entity types whereas with class modeling you identify classes.

Data attributes are assigned to entity types just as you would assign attributes and operations to classes.  There are associations between entities, similar to the associations between classes – relationships, inheritance, composition, and aggregation are all applicable concepts in data modeling.

Traditional data modeling is different from class modeling because it focuses solely on data – class models allow you to explore both the behavior and data aspects of your domain, with a data model you can only explore data issues.  Because of this focus data modelers have a tendency to be much better at getting the data “right” than object modelers.  However, some people will model database methods (stored procedures, stored functions, and triggers) when they are physical data modeling.

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