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Chapter 4 EER

The document discusses enhanced entity-relationship (EER) diagrams and inheritance. It explains that EER diagrams allow entities to be related in an "is-a" relationship where one entity is a subtype of another. Subtypes inherit all attributes and relationships of the supertype. The document provides examples of disjoint, covering, and non-disjoint inheritance relationships between entities. It also discusses using notation like circles and triangles to indicate inheritance and whether subtypes are disjoint or overlapping.

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Ayele Nugusie
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37 views

Chapter 4 EER

The document discusses enhanced entity-relationship (EER) diagrams and inheritance. It explains that EER diagrams allow entities to be related in an "is-a" relationship where one entity is a subtype of another. Subtypes inherit all attributes and relationships of the supertype. The document provides examples of disjoint, covering, and non-disjoint inheritance relationships between entities. It also discusses using notation like circles and triangles to indicate inheritance and whether subtypes are disjoint or overlapping.

Uploaded by

Ayele Nugusie
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Enhanced Entity-Relationship

Diagrams
REVIEW
 Extended Entity-Relationship Model
adds Inheritance
 indicates that one entity type is
an extension of another entity type
 often referred to as an IS-A relationship
http://www.agilemodeling.com/artifacts/classDiagram.htm
Inheritance defines a subclass relationship
 A subclass inherits all properties (members) of the super class
This is the perspective of most modern
programming languages
B ⊂ A, C ⊂ A everything true about a member
Every B is also an A of a set is also true about any
Every C is also an A member of its subsets.

all entities

A
B C
Phone
Name PERSON
ID

IsA

STUDENT PROFESSOR

Major Class Dept Office


Phone
Name PERSON
ID

STUDENT PROFESSOR

Major Class Dept Office

preferred notation: shows directionality of inheritance


Phone
Name PERSON
ID

STUDENT PROFESSOR

Major Class Dept Office

The circle may be omitted when not needed.


Student and professor entities have all
attributes defined for a person,
plus additional attributes
Keys are also inherited.
Subtypes should not define new keys.
Phone
Name PERSON
ID

STUDENT PROFESSOR

Major Class Dept Office


Relationships are also inherited by subtypes

Every mouse
must be sold with
a computer? TRUE

Every computer
must be sold with
a mouse? FALSE
Disjointness: an entity can be
a member of at most one subtype
 a person may be a student or may be a professor, but not both

Covering: every entity of the supertype


must also be a member of at least one subtype
 every person must be a professor or a student
B ⊂ A, C ⊂ A no entity is in both B and C
B ∩ C = ∅

all entities

A
B C
an entity may be in both B and C

overlapping = non-disjoint

all entities

A
B C
B ⊂ A, C ⊂ A every entity in A is also in B or C
B ∪ C = A

all entities
A

B C
some entities in A are not in B or C

all entities

A
B C
IsA (triangle) notation:

write “disjoint” and/or “covering”


next to the triangle

Subset notation,

‘d’ in the circle  disjointness


‘o’ in the circle  no disjointness (overlap)

required participation from supertype


indicates a covering constraint
Every A can also be a B or a C, or both, or neither

A A

IsA o

B C B C
Every A can also be a B or a C or but not both

A A

disjoint
IsA d

B C B C
Every A must be a B or a C or both

A A

covering
IsA o

B C B C
Every A must be a B or a C, but not both

A A

disjoint,
IsA d
covering

B C B C
disjoint, covering inheritance:
every car is a vehicle
every truck is a vehicle
every vehicle is either a car or a truck
no vehicle is both a car and a truck
disjoint, non-covering inheritance:
employees may be secretaries, technicians or
engineers, but not more than one of these
non-disjoint, covering inheritance:
every part is a manufactured part,
or a purchased part,
or both (a purchased, manufactured part)

** How many attributes does a purchased, manufactured part have?


** How would we model this in UML (C++ or Java)?
** Interpret this schema.

** Can you find a real-world example?


Inheritance Lattice

Multiple inheritance gives us a lattice,


rather than a hierarchy

** Could we have engineering managers without defining the E_M class?


(compare to previous example)
Union defines a type as the union of other types
OWNER = PERSON ∪ COMPANY
OWNER is called a union type or category
 OWNER is the subtype of the union of PERSON and COMPANY
Not multiple inheritance
 an OWNER does not need all the PERSON COMPANY
attributes from
both PERSON and COMPANY ∪

OWNER
B and C are subtypes of A A is a subtype of B∪C
B⊂A
B⊂A A ⊂ B∪C
B∪C ⊂ A

A A

d ∪

B C B C

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