aigroup-workflow 2.2.1 → 2.2.2

package/skills/database/sql-pro/references/database-design.md

@@ -1,402 +1,402 @@
-# Database Design
-
-## Normalization Levels
-
-```sql
--- 1NF: Atomic values, no repeating groups
--- Bad: Non-atomic phone column
-CREATE TABLE customers_bad (
-    customer_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
-    name VARCHAR(100),
-    phones VARCHAR(500)  -- "555-1234,555-5678,555-9012"
-);
-
--- Good: Atomic values
-CREATE TABLE customers (
-    customer_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE customer_phones (
-    phone_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    customer_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES customers(customer_id),
-    phone_number VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
-    phone_type VARCHAR(20) CHECK (phone_type IN ('mobile', 'home', 'work'))
-);
-
--- 2NF: No partial dependencies (all non-key attributes depend on entire key)
--- Bad: Partial dependency on composite key
-CREATE TABLE order_items_bad (
-    order_id INT,
-    product_id INT,
-    product_name VARCHAR(100),  -- Depends only on product_id
-    product_price DECIMAL(10,2),  -- Depends only on product_id
-    quantity INT,
-    PRIMARY KEY (order_id, product_id)
-);
-
--- Good: Separate product attributes
-CREATE TABLE products (
-    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    product_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    product_price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL CHECK (product_price >= 0)
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE order_items (
-    order_id INT,
-    product_id INT,
-    quantity INT NOT NULL CHECK (quantity > 0),
-    unit_price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,  -- Snapshot at order time
-    PRIMARY KEY (order_id, product_id),
-    FOREIGN KEY (order_id) REFERENCES orders(order_id),
-    FOREIGN KEY (product_id) REFERENCES products(product_id)
-);
-
--- 3NF: No transitive dependencies
--- Bad: City/State depends on ZIP
-CREATE TABLE addresses_bad (
-    address_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
-    street VARCHAR(200),
-    city VARCHAR(100),
-    state VARCHAR(2),
-    zip_code VARCHAR(10)
-);
-
--- Good: Separate ZIP code reference
-CREATE TABLE zip_codes (
-    zip_code VARCHAR(10) PRIMARY KEY,
-    city VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    state VARCHAR(2) NOT NULL,
-    county VARCHAR(100)
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE addresses (
-    address_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    street VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
-    zip_code VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL REFERENCES zip_codes(zip_code)
-);
-```
-
-## Primary and Foreign Keys
-
-```sql
--- Natural vs Surrogate keys
--- Natural key (business meaning)
-CREATE TABLE countries (
-    country_code CHAR(2) PRIMARY KEY,  -- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
-    country_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
-);
-
--- Surrogate key (technical, no business meaning)
-CREATE TABLE customers (
-    customer_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,  -- Auto-incrementing surrogate
-    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,  -- Natural candidate key
-    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
--- Composite primary key
-CREATE TABLE student_courses (
-    student_id INT,
-    course_id INT,
-    enrollment_date DATE NOT NULL,
-    grade CHAR(2),
-    PRIMARY KEY (student_id, course_id),
-    FOREIGN KEY (student_id) REFERENCES students(student_id),
-    FOREIGN KEY (course_id) REFERENCES courses(course_id)
-);
-
--- UUID primary keys (distributed systems, no sequence conflicts)
-CREATE TABLE events (
-    event_id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
-    event_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
-    event_data JSONB,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
--- Foreign key with cascading actions
-CREATE TABLE orders (
-    order_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    customer_id INT NOT NULL,
-    order_date DATE DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE,
-    FOREIGN KEY (customer_id) REFERENCES customers(customer_id)
-        ON DELETE CASCADE  -- Delete orders when customer deleted
-        ON UPDATE CASCADE  -- Update order.customer_id when customers.customer_id changes
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE order_items (
-    order_item_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    order_id INT NOT NULL,
-    product_id INT NOT NULL,
-    quantity INT NOT NULL,
-    FOREIGN KEY (order_id) REFERENCES orders(order_id)
-        ON DELETE CASCADE,  -- Delete items when order deleted
-    FOREIGN KEY (product_id) REFERENCES products(product_id)
-        ON DELETE RESTRICT  -- Prevent deleting product if used in orders
-);
-```
-
-## Constraints and Validation
-
-```sql
--- CHECK constraints
-CREATE TABLE employees (
-    employee_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    first_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
-    last_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
-    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
-    salary DECIMAL(12,2) NOT NULL,
-    hire_date DATE NOT NULL,
-    birth_date DATE NOT NULL,
-
-    CONSTRAINT chk_salary_positive CHECK (salary > 0),
-    CONSTRAINT chk_email_format CHECK (email ~* '^[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}$'),
-    CONSTRAINT chk_hire_after_birth CHECK (hire_date > birth_date + INTERVAL '16 years'),
-    CONSTRAINT chk_hire_not_future CHECK (hire_date <= CURRENT_DATE)
-);
-
--- Unique constraints (including composite)
-CREATE TABLE user_preferences (
-    user_id INT NOT NULL,
-    preference_key VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
-    preference_value TEXT,
-
-    CONSTRAINT uq_user_preference UNIQUE (user_id, preference_key)
-);
-
--- NOT NULL constraints with defaults
-CREATE TABLE products (
-    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    name VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
-    description TEXT,
-    price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0.00,
-    is_active BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT true,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
-    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
--- Exclusion constraints (PostgreSQL - prevent overlapping ranges)
-CREATE TABLE room_bookings (
-    booking_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    room_id INT NOT NULL,
-    booked_during TSTZRANGE NOT NULL,
-
-    EXCLUDE USING GIST (
-        room_id WITH =,
-        booked_during WITH &&
-    )  -- Prevent overlapping bookings for same room
-);
-```
-
-## Indexing Strategy
-
-```sql
--- Index foreign keys (critical for JOIN performance)
-CREATE INDEX idx_orders_customer_id ON orders(customer_id);
-CREATE INDEX idx_order_items_order_id ON order_items(order_id);
-CREATE INDEX idx_order_items_product_id ON order_items(product_id);
-
--- Composite index for common queries
-CREATE INDEX idx_orders_customer_date ON orders(customer_id, order_date DESC);
--- Supports:
--- WHERE customer_id = ? AND order_date > ?
--- WHERE customer_id = ? ORDER BY order_date DESC
-
--- Partial index for common filters
-CREATE INDEX idx_active_products ON products(category, price)
-WHERE is_active = true AND deleted_at IS NULL;
-
--- Unique index for business rules
-CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_users_active_email ON users(LOWER(email))
-WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
--- Ensures no duplicate emails among active users
-```
-
-## Common Design Patterns
-
-```sql
--- Polymorphic associations (flexible but harder to enforce integrity)
-CREATE TABLE comments (
-    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    commentable_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,  -- 'Post', 'Photo', 'Video'
-    commentable_id INT NOT NULL,
-    content TEXT NOT NULL,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
-
-    -- Cannot enforce FK without triggers/application logic
-    CHECK (commentable_type IN ('Post', 'Photo', 'Video'))
-);
-
--- Better: Separate tables with proper FKs
-CREATE TABLE post_comments (
-    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    post_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES posts(post_id),
-    content TEXT NOT NULL,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE photo_comments (
-    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    photo_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES photos(photo_id),
-    content TEXT NOT NULL,
-    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
--- Many-to-many with attributes (junction/bridge table)
-CREATE TABLE students (
-    student_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE courses (
-    course_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    course_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE enrollments (
-    enrollment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    student_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES students(student_id),
-    course_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES courses(course_id),
-    enrollment_date DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE,
-    grade CHAR(2),
-    status VARCHAR(20) DEFAULT 'active',
-
-    UNIQUE (student_id, course_id),
-    CHECK (status IN ('active', 'completed', 'dropped'))
-);
-
--- Self-referencing hierarchy
-CREATE TABLE categories (
-    category_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    category_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    parent_category_id INT REFERENCES categories(category_id),
-    level INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
-
-    CHECK (category_id != parent_category_id)  -- Prevent self-reference
-);
-
--- Adjacency list example
-INSERT INTO categories VALUES
-    (1, 'Electronics', NULL, 0),
-    (2, 'Computers', 1, 1),
-    (3, 'Laptops', 2, 2),
-    (4, 'Desktops', 2, 2);
-```
-
-## Temporal/Historical Data
-
-```sql
--- Slowly Changing Dimension Type 2 (SCD2) - Full history
-CREATE TABLE customer_history (
-    customer_history_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    customer_id INT NOT NULL,
-    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
-    address TEXT,
-    valid_from TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
-    valid_to TIMESTAMP,
-    is_current BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT true,
-
-    CHECK (valid_to IS NULL OR valid_to > valid_from)
-);
-
--- Ensure only one current record per customer
-CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_customer_current ON customer_history(customer_id)
-WHERE is_current = true;
-
--- Temporal tables (PostgreSQL system-versioning)
-CREATE TABLE products (
-    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    name VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
-    price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
-    sys_period TSTZRANGE NOT NULL DEFAULT tstzrange(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, NULL)
-);
-
-CREATE TABLE products_history (LIKE products);
-
-CREATE TRIGGER versioning_trigger
-BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON products
-FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION versioning('sys_period', 'products_history', true);
-```
-
-## Soft Deletes
-
-```sql
--- Soft delete pattern
-CREATE TABLE posts (
-    post_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
-    content TEXT NOT NULL,
-    author_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES users(user_id),
-    created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
-    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
-    deleted_at TIMESTAMP,  -- NULL = active, non-NULL = deleted
-    deleted_by INT REFERENCES users(user_id)
-);
-
--- Index for filtering active records
-CREATE INDEX idx_posts_active ON posts(created_at DESC)
-WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
-
--- View for active posts only
-CREATE VIEW active_posts AS
-SELECT post_id, title, content, author_id, created_at, updated_at
-FROM posts
-WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
-```
-
-## Audit Trails
-
-```sql
--- Audit table pattern
-CREATE TABLE audit_log (
-    audit_id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
-    table_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
-    record_id BIGINT NOT NULL,
-    action VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL CHECK (action IN ('INSERT', 'UPDATE', 'DELETE')),
-    old_values JSONB,
-    new_values JSONB,
-    changed_by INT REFERENCES users(user_id),
-    changed_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
-);
-
-CREATE INDEX idx_audit_table_record ON audit_log(table_name, record_id);
-CREATE INDEX idx_audit_timestamp ON audit_log(changed_at DESC);
-
--- Trigger function for automatic auditing
-CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION audit_trigger_func()
-RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
-BEGIN
-    IF (TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
-        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, old_values)
-        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, OLD.product_id, 'DELETE', row_to_json(OLD));
-        RETURN OLD;
-    ELSIF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE') THEN
-        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, old_values, new_values)
-        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, NEW.product_id, 'UPDATE', row_to_json(OLD), row_to_json(NEW));
-        RETURN NEW;
-    ELSIF (TG_OP = 'INSERT') THEN
-        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, new_values)
-        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, NEW.product_id, 'INSERT', row_to_json(NEW));
-        RETURN NEW;
-    END IF;
-END;
-$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
-
-CREATE TRIGGER products_audit
-AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON products
-FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION audit_trigger_func();
-```
-
-## Schema Design Best Practices
-
-1. **Choose appropriate data types**: Use smallest type that fits (INT vs BIGINT, VARCHAR(50) vs TEXT)
-2. **Index foreign keys**: Always index FK columns for JOIN performance
-3. **Avoid NULLs when possible**: Use NOT NULL with defaults
-4. **Use constraints**: Enforce data integrity at database level
-5. **Normalize to 3NF**: Then denormalize strategically for performance
-6. **Consider soft deletes**: For auditing and data recovery
-7. **Plan for growth**: Use BIGINT for high-volume PKs
-8. **Document schema**: Comment tables and complex constraints
-9. **Version control**: Track schema changes with migrations
-10. **Test with realistic data**: Validate design with production-scale data
+# Database Design
+
+## Normalization Levels
+
+```sql
+-- 1NF: Atomic values, no repeating groups
+-- Bad: Non-atomic phone column
+CREATE TABLE customers_bad (
+    customer_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(100),
+    phones VARCHAR(500)  -- "555-1234,555-5678,555-9012"
+);
+
+-- Good: Atomic values
+CREATE TABLE customers (
+    customer_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE customer_phones (
+    phone_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    customer_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES customers(customer_id),
+    phone_number VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
+    phone_type VARCHAR(20) CHECK (phone_type IN ('mobile', 'home', 'work'))
+);
+
+-- 2NF: No partial dependencies (all non-key attributes depend on entire key)
+-- Bad: Partial dependency on composite key
+CREATE TABLE order_items_bad (
+    order_id INT,
+    product_id INT,
+    product_name VARCHAR(100),  -- Depends only on product_id
+    product_price DECIMAL(10,2),  -- Depends only on product_id
+    quantity INT,
+    PRIMARY KEY (order_id, product_id)
+);
+
+-- Good: Separate product attributes
+CREATE TABLE products (
+    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    product_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    product_price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL CHECK (product_price >= 0)
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE order_items (
+    order_id INT,
+    product_id INT,
+    quantity INT NOT NULL CHECK (quantity > 0),
+    unit_price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,  -- Snapshot at order time
+    PRIMARY KEY (order_id, product_id),
+    FOREIGN KEY (order_id) REFERENCES orders(order_id),
+    FOREIGN KEY (product_id) REFERENCES products(product_id)
+);
+
+-- 3NF: No transitive dependencies
+-- Bad: City/State depends on ZIP
+CREATE TABLE addresses_bad (
+    address_id INT PRIMARY KEY,
+    street VARCHAR(200),
+    city VARCHAR(100),
+    state VARCHAR(2),
+    zip_code VARCHAR(10)
+);
+
+-- Good: Separate ZIP code reference
+CREATE TABLE zip_codes (
+    zip_code VARCHAR(10) PRIMARY KEY,
+    city VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    state VARCHAR(2) NOT NULL,
+    county VARCHAR(100)
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE addresses (
+    address_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    street VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
+    zip_code VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL REFERENCES zip_codes(zip_code)
+);
+```
+
+## Primary and Foreign Keys
+
+```sql
+-- Natural vs Surrogate keys
+-- Natural key (business meaning)
+CREATE TABLE countries (
+    country_code CHAR(2) PRIMARY KEY,  -- ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
+    country_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
+);
+
+-- Surrogate key (technical, no business meaning)
+CREATE TABLE customers (
+    customer_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,  -- Auto-incrementing surrogate
+    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,  -- Natural candidate key
+    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+-- Composite primary key
+CREATE TABLE student_courses (
+    student_id INT,
+    course_id INT,
+    enrollment_date DATE NOT NULL,
+    grade CHAR(2),
+    PRIMARY KEY (student_id, course_id),
+    FOREIGN KEY (student_id) REFERENCES students(student_id),
+    FOREIGN KEY (course_id) REFERENCES courses(course_id)
+);
+
+-- UUID primary keys (distributed systems, no sequence conflicts)
+CREATE TABLE events (
+    event_id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
+    event_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
+    event_data JSONB,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+-- Foreign key with cascading actions
+CREATE TABLE orders (
+    order_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    customer_id INT NOT NULL,
+    order_date DATE DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE,
+    FOREIGN KEY (customer_id) REFERENCES customers(customer_id)
+        ON DELETE CASCADE  -- Delete orders when customer deleted
+        ON UPDATE CASCADE  -- Update order.customer_id when customers.customer_id changes
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE order_items (
+    order_item_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    order_id INT NOT NULL,
+    product_id INT NOT NULL,
+    quantity INT NOT NULL,
+    FOREIGN KEY (order_id) REFERENCES orders(order_id)
+        ON DELETE CASCADE,  -- Delete items when order deleted
+    FOREIGN KEY (product_id) REFERENCES products(product_id)
+        ON DELETE RESTRICT  -- Prevent deleting product if used in orders
+);
+```
+
+## Constraints and Validation
+
+```sql
+-- CHECK constraints
+CREATE TABLE employees (
+    employee_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    first_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
+    last_name VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
+    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
+    salary DECIMAL(12,2) NOT NULL,
+    hire_date DATE NOT NULL,
+    birth_date DATE NOT NULL,
+
+    CONSTRAINT chk_salary_positive CHECK (salary > 0),
+    CONSTRAINT chk_email_format CHECK (email ~* '^[A-Za-z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Za-z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,}$'),
+    CONSTRAINT chk_hire_after_birth CHECK (hire_date > birth_date + INTERVAL '16 years'),
+    CONSTRAINT chk_hire_not_future CHECK (hire_date <= CURRENT_DATE)
+);
+
+-- Unique constraints (including composite)
+CREATE TABLE user_preferences (
+    user_id INT NOT NULL,
+    preference_key VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
+    preference_value TEXT,
+
+    CONSTRAINT uq_user_preference UNIQUE (user_id, preference_key)
+);
+
+-- NOT NULL constraints with defaults
+CREATE TABLE products (
+    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
+    description TEXT,
+    price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0.00,
+    is_active BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT true,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+-- Exclusion constraints (PostgreSQL - prevent overlapping ranges)
+CREATE TABLE room_bookings (
+    booking_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    room_id INT NOT NULL,
+    booked_during TSTZRANGE NOT NULL,
+
+    EXCLUDE USING GIST (
+        room_id WITH =,
+        booked_during WITH &&
+    )  -- Prevent overlapping bookings for same room
+);
+```
+
+## Indexing Strategy
+
+```sql
+-- Index foreign keys (critical for JOIN performance)
+CREATE INDEX idx_orders_customer_id ON orders(customer_id);
+CREATE INDEX idx_order_items_order_id ON order_items(order_id);
+CREATE INDEX idx_order_items_product_id ON order_items(product_id);
+
+-- Composite index for common queries
+CREATE INDEX idx_orders_customer_date ON orders(customer_id, order_date DESC);
+-- Supports:
+-- WHERE customer_id = ? AND order_date > ?
+-- WHERE customer_id = ? ORDER BY order_date DESC
+
+-- Partial index for common filters
+CREATE INDEX idx_active_products ON products(category, price)
+WHERE is_active = true AND deleted_at IS NULL;
+
+-- Unique index for business rules
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_users_active_email ON users(LOWER(email))
+WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
+-- Ensures no duplicate emails among active users
+```
+
+## Common Design Patterns
+
+```sql
+-- Polymorphic associations (flexible but harder to enforce integrity)
+CREATE TABLE comments (
+    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    commentable_type VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,  -- 'Post', 'Photo', 'Video'
+    commentable_id INT NOT NULL,
+    content TEXT NOT NULL,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+
+    -- Cannot enforce FK without triggers/application logic
+    CHECK (commentable_type IN ('Post', 'Photo', 'Video'))
+);
+
+-- Better: Separate tables with proper FKs
+CREATE TABLE post_comments (
+    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    post_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES posts(post_id),
+    content TEXT NOT NULL,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE photo_comments (
+    comment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    photo_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES photos(photo_id),
+    content TEXT NOT NULL,
+    created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+-- Many-to-many with attributes (junction/bridge table)
+CREATE TABLE students (
+    student_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE courses (
+    course_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    course_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE enrollments (
+    enrollment_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    student_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES students(student_id),
+    course_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES courses(course_id),
+    enrollment_date DATE NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_DATE,
+    grade CHAR(2),
+    status VARCHAR(20) DEFAULT 'active',
+
+    UNIQUE (student_id, course_id),
+    CHECK (status IN ('active', 'completed', 'dropped'))
+);
+
+-- Self-referencing hierarchy
+CREATE TABLE categories (
+    category_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    category_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    parent_category_id INT REFERENCES categories(category_id),
+    level INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
+
+    CHECK (category_id != parent_category_id)  -- Prevent self-reference
+);
+
+-- Adjacency list example
+INSERT INTO categories VALUES
+    (1, 'Electronics', NULL, 0),
+    (2, 'Computers', 1, 1),
+    (3, 'Laptops', 2, 2),
+    (4, 'Desktops', 2, 2);
+```
+
+## Temporal/Historical Data
+
+```sql
+-- Slowly Changing Dimension Type 2 (SCD2) - Full history
+CREATE TABLE customer_history (
+    customer_history_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    customer_id INT NOT NULL,
+    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
+    address TEXT,
+    valid_from TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    valid_to TIMESTAMP,
+    is_current BOOLEAN NOT NULL DEFAULT true,
+
+    CHECK (valid_to IS NULL OR valid_to > valid_from)
+);
+
+-- Ensure only one current record per customer
+CREATE UNIQUE INDEX idx_customer_current ON customer_history(customer_id)
+WHERE is_current = true;
+
+-- Temporal tables (PostgreSQL system-versioning)
+CREATE TABLE products (
+    product_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    name VARCHAR(200) NOT NULL,
+    price DECIMAL(10,2) NOT NULL,
+    sys_period TSTZRANGE NOT NULL DEFAULT tstzrange(CURRENT_TIMESTAMP, NULL)
+);
+
+CREATE TABLE products_history (LIKE products);
+
+CREATE TRIGGER versioning_trigger
+BEFORE INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON products
+FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION versioning('sys_period', 'products_history', true);
+```
+
+## Soft Deletes
+
+```sql
+-- Soft delete pattern
+CREATE TABLE posts (
+    post_id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    title VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
+    content TEXT NOT NULL,
+    author_id INT NOT NULL REFERENCES users(user_id),
+    created_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    updated_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
+    deleted_at TIMESTAMP,  -- NULL = active, non-NULL = deleted
+    deleted_by INT REFERENCES users(user_id)
+);
+
+-- Index for filtering active records
+CREATE INDEX idx_posts_active ON posts(created_at DESC)
+WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
+
+-- View for active posts only
+CREATE VIEW active_posts AS
+SELECT post_id, title, content, author_id, created_at, updated_at
+FROM posts
+WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
+```
+
+## Audit Trails
+
+```sql
+-- Audit table pattern
+CREATE TABLE audit_log (
+    audit_id BIGSERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
+    table_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
+    record_id BIGINT NOT NULL,
+    action VARCHAR(10) NOT NULL CHECK (action IN ('INSERT', 'UPDATE', 'DELETE')),
+    old_values JSONB,
+    new_values JSONB,
+    changed_by INT REFERENCES users(user_id),
+    changed_at TIMESTAMP NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
+);
+
+CREATE INDEX idx_audit_table_record ON audit_log(table_name, record_id);
+CREATE INDEX idx_audit_timestamp ON audit_log(changed_at DESC);
+
+-- Trigger function for automatic auditing
+CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION audit_trigger_func()
+RETURNS TRIGGER AS $$
+BEGIN
+    IF (TG_OP = 'DELETE') THEN
+        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, old_values)
+        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, OLD.product_id, 'DELETE', row_to_json(OLD));
+        RETURN OLD;
+    ELSIF (TG_OP = 'UPDATE') THEN
+        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, old_values, new_values)
+        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, NEW.product_id, 'UPDATE', row_to_json(OLD), row_to_json(NEW));
+        RETURN NEW;
+    ELSIF (TG_OP = 'INSERT') THEN
+        INSERT INTO audit_log (table_name, record_id, action, new_values)
+        VALUES (TG_TABLE_NAME, NEW.product_id, 'INSERT', row_to_json(NEW));
+        RETURN NEW;
+    END IF;
+END;
+$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;
+
+CREATE TRIGGER products_audit
+AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON products
+FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE FUNCTION audit_trigger_func();
+```
+
+## Schema Design Best Practices
+
+1. **Choose appropriate data types**: Use smallest type that fits (INT vs BIGINT, VARCHAR(50) vs TEXT)
+2. **Index foreign keys**: Always index FK columns for JOIN performance
+3. **Avoid NULLs when possible**: Use NOT NULL with defaults
+4. **Use constraints**: Enforce data integrity at database level
+5. **Normalize to 3NF**: Then denormalize strategically for performance
+6. **Consider soft deletes**: For auditing and data recovery
+7. **Plan for growth**: Use BIGINT for high-volume PKs
+8. **Document schema**: Comment tables and complex constraints
+9. **Version control**: Track schema changes with migrations
+10. **Test with realistic data**: Validate design with production-scale data