David Korb (3/23/2010)
Tom Wilson (3/23/2010)
The basic idea for this topic is useful to brand-new database designeres - build a new table when there is a many-to-many relationship between two other tables. But note that we don't need a new name ("bridge table") for this concept. There is a long established discipline of data modeling, and a table such as this already has names such as associative entity, using entity-relationship terminology. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associative_EntitiesGee, I always thought it was called an "intersection"! It's probably more useful to use slang like this when explaining architecture to non-technical people, than using "associative entity".
Tim great article, better title then the last. If you had read his previous article and went throught the discussions you'd see that there are many names for the same concept. The term "bridge table" has been around as long or longer than the term "associative entity". A scientist will call a dog a canine. Most of us when we see one walk down the street don't say, "Hey look at that cute canine".
The thing I like most about the articles at ssc is the discussions on the articles. As much or more can be learned from the discussions than from the actual articles. I do like the wikipedia link.
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