Minimal Modeling

Subtypes and status-dependent data: pure relational approach

Using constant columns to solve a common problem of encoding status-dependent information (or subtypes, more generally).

Jan 29 • Alexey Makhotkin

1

Common SQL queries through a non-1NF lens

For the past few months I’ve been working on “A modern guide to SQL JOINs” and some other book-related content.

Jan 12 • Alexey Makhotkin

2

October 2025

Documenting your data: WordPress case study, pt. 1

240 tables and no documentation: making sense of your database

Oct 1, 2025 • Alexey Makhotkin

4

August 2025

June 2025

May 2025

April 2025

Database Design Book released!

137-page PDF, €32.  See table of contents and sample chapters.

Apr 21, 2025 • Alexey Makhotkin

3

February 2025

December 2024

Podcast guest appearance

Looking for some podcast collaboration opportunities

Dec 23, 2024 • Alexey Makhotkin

2

Historically, 4NF explanations are needlessly confusing

4NF presented in a straightforward way, with some investigation of history of teaching 4NF.

Dec 5, 2024 • Alexey Makhotkin

6

20

October 2024

Date's demon

I’d like to introduce an idea of “Date’s demon” (named in honor of Chris Date). Postulating the existence of this imaginary being, we can describe some…

Oct 26, 2024 • Alexey Makhotkin

Minimal Modeling and GenAI

Minimal model could be used as a source of high quality textual content to feed into your LLM.

Oct 2, 2024 • Alexey Makhotkin

4