Describe Relational Concepts

Imagine you were putting together a library. To record the details of thousands of books, authors, and subjects, you would need a highly organized system to find and keep track of everything. Each book must be entered onto the correct shelf for the correct subject, associated with a sub-genre, and stored by some hierarchy, such as having every book by an author grouped or in alphabetical order by title.

Relational data is a lot like this; it is all about organizing and structuring data according to certain rules and principles (a schema) that guarantee consistency, integrity, and efficiency. This type of data is found in various applications and environments, including e-commerce platforms, employee and healthcare records, financial institutions, and so on.

In this chapter, you will delve into the fundamental relational data concepts essential for the DP-900 Azure Data Fundamentals exam. Understanding these concepts is crucial for passing the exam and applying these principles in real-world scenarios where efficient data management is vital.

You will cover several key topics:

• Identify features of relational data
• Describe normalization and why it is used
• Identify common structured query language (SQL) statements
• Identify common database objects

The topics are related to DP-900 Azure Data Fundamentals, a certification exam covering skills for recognizing relational data considerations on Azure. This corresponds to about 20–25% of the total measured skills. Completing this chapter ensures you have the skills for identifying relational data on Azure and are ready for the certification exam.

This first part of the chapter is intended to help you get acquainted with the concept of relational data/database identity and describe these aspects.

You will start by exploring the features of relational data and how these are the foundation for efficient and effective data management systems.