Yesterday I put a question on twitter, to find out what others prefer: table names using singular or plural form. I expected one or two replies, not an avalanche :-)
datamodel question for monday morning: why would you use plural to name a table (ie. USERS)? Isn’t it more accurate to use singular -> USER.
— PeterRaganitsch (@PeterRaganitsch) April 10, 2017
As expected there were all kind of replies going either singular or plural. Some of the replies were actually funny or educational, here are some of my favorites:
@PeterRaganitsch what does table contain: user or users? Are you selecting from user or from users where … if you care for language: plural
— Rob van Wijk (@rwijk) April 10, 2017
@PeterRaganitsch …and that’s why it’s called DUAL: for the dual singularity: one row, one column 😂
— Alex Nuijten (@alexnuijten) April 10, 2017
@thatjeffsmith @PeterRaganitsch @oraesque @mortenbraten I love these plural discussions. What is the plural of: intercourse with wife?
— Øyvind Isene (@OyvindIsene) April 10, 2017
@thatjeffsmith @oraculix @PeterRaganitsch @oraesque @mortenbraten I always thought that the $ in dictionary tables was a nice way to put them plural until I encounter AUX_STATS$
— Franck Pachot (@FranckPachot) April 10, 2017
@PeterRaganitsch Oracle Method in Designer days used singular for entities and plural for tables, so it’s plural for me.
— Rodolfo Luthe (@RodolfoLuthe) April 11, 2017
In summary, most important is to be consistent, everything else can be chalked up as personal preference
@PeterRaganitsch I like plural to express it’s a set and not a singleton. But I don’t get upset about it :-)
— Øyvind Isene (@OyvindIsene) April 10, 2017
@PeterRaganitsch What ever you do do it systematically: always either singular or plural, do not mix.
— Heli Helskyaho (@HeliFromFinland) April 10, 2017
@martinberx @thatjeffsmith @PeterRaganitsch @oraesque @mortenbraten But that means that for consistency we have to put dba_ego in a separate schema. And while we’re at it partition it, cause it’s huge :)
— Erik van Roon (@evrocs_nl) April 10, 2017