PHP 5/MySQL Programming- P77:computer programming has often been seen as a difficult and arcane skill. Programming languages are difficult and complicated, out of the typical person’s reach. However, the advent of the World Wide Web has changed that to some extent. It’s reasonably easy to build and post a Web page for the entire world to see. The language of the Web is reasonably simple, and numerous applications are available to assist in the preparation of static pages | This page intentionally left blank Data Normalization In chapters 9 and 10 you learn how to create a basic database and connect it to a PHP program. PHP and MySQL are wonderful for working with basic databases. However most real-world problems involve data that is too complex to fit in one table. Database designers have developed some standard techniques for handling complex data that reduce redundancy improve efficiency and provide flexibility. In this chapter you learn how to use the relational model to build complex databases involving multiple entities. Specifically you learn How the relational model works. How to build use-case models for predicting data usage. How to construct entity-relationship diagrams to model your data. How to build multi-table databases. How joins are used to connect tables. How to build a link table to model many-to-many relationships. How to optimize your table design for later programming. 360 PHP 5 MySQL Programming for the Absolute Beginner Introducing the spy Database In this chapter you build a database to manage your international spy ring. You do have an international spy ring don t you Saving the world is a complicated task so you ll need a database to keep track of all your agents. Secret agents are assigned to various operations around the globe and certain agents have certain skills. The examples in this chapter will take you through the construction of such a database. You ll see how to construct the database in MySQL. In chapter 12 Building a Three-Tiered Data Application you use this database to make a really powerful spymaster application in PHP. The spy database reflects a few facts about my spy organization called the Pantheon of Humanitarian Performance or PHP . Each agent has a code name. Each agent can have any number of skills. More than one agent can have the same skill. Each agent is assigned to one operation at a time. More than one agent can be assigned to one operation. A spy s location is determined by the .
