Saturday, March 26, 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

chmod command

To change permissions on a UNIX file or directory, use the chmod command.

chmod category+permissions filename

Gives read, write and execute permission:

chmod +r file
chmod +w file
chmod +x file

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Google styleguide

Google defined style guides how to write code. It covers C++, JavaScript, Python, Object-C languages and XML.

You can read more on google-styleguide website.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Essential database naming conventions

There are a few simple rules that i use for naming database objects (including the name of the database itself).

General
  • User lowercase characters. Eliminates question of proper case as well as errors related to case-sensitivity and speeds typing rate and accuracy.
  • Separate words and prefixes with underlines, never use spaces. Promotes readability and offers greater platform independence. Avoid having to bracket names (e.g. [book name] or "book name").
  • Do not use dashes in database names.
  • Avoid using numbers.


Database name

[system name]_[customer or purpose]



Table name

[schema].[table name]
  • Give tables singular names, never plural.
  • Use schema - it allows to group database tables.


Field name

[field name]
  • The primary key should be the singular form of the table name suffixed with '_id'.


Primary key name

pk_[table name]
  • Always use the 'pk_' prefix for primary key name.


Index name

ix_[table name]_[index field names]

  • Always use the 'ix_' prefix for index name.


Foreign key name

fk_[table name]_[foreign key field names]

  • Always use the 'fk_' prefix for index name.

Database example


I added a simple database diagram which has three tables: 'person', 'organisation' and 'account' and it has two namespaces: 'demographic' and 'identification'. Person has relationship with organisation.