Overview

Is there a difference between the verbs "to design" and "to architect"? Many people think that "to architect" is one of those bastard words that become verbs by way of misguided efforts to activate nouns. Not so, in this case: the verb "to architect" has a long and distinguished history reaching back to the sixteenth century. But is there a difference?

In the modern world of databases, often it seems there is little difference in theory but much difference in practice. Database administrators and data architects "design" databases and systems, and application developers "architect" the systems that use them. You can easily distinguish the tools of database design from the tools of system architecture.

The main thesis of this book is that there is no difference. Designing a database using the methods in this book merges indistinguishably with architecting the overall system of which the database is a part. Architecture is multidimensional, but these dimensions interact as a complex system rather than being completely separate and distinct. Database design, like most architecture, is art, not science.

That art pursues a very practical goal: to make information available to clients of the software system. Databases have been around since Sumerians and Egyptians first...