Ed-997158 (3/23/2010)
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".
Silly me. I thought analysts, designers and developers were technical people.
I was referring to the use of technical language in a broader context than SSC, such as the business managers in our companies. You know, the people we have difficulty explaining things to some times!