A retrospective on industrial database reverse engineering projects - part 2

Abstract

For pt.1 see ibid., p.136-46 (2001). The paper continues the compilation of results from the reverse engineering of 35 databases. It presents a series of standard observations and their variation across the databases. It reports additional experimental data from database reverse engineering. The paper yields insight into the state of the practice for database design. It is clear that the current practice is lacking and that there are opportunities for improvement. The database community has much work ahead in teaching developers to design databases better. In the meantime, reverse engineers can help by calling attention to actual practices and influencing product selections towards better designs.