The Basics of Database Building
I’ve long been wrestling with what I want the ReSassy database to do. So far it’s congealed into the following goals:
- I want to track each piece of Sassy.
- I want to be able to summarize data from anywhere on a hierarchy of sub-assemblies.
- I want to be able to summarize data from a dynamic list of characteristics (“parts made of plastic”, “parts that were recycled”, “after-market parts” etc.)
- I want to track all the parts by weight and compare to the total actual weight and the 2094 pound curb weight. I want to be able to enter weight in whatever unit is convenient.
- I want to track financial exchanges for each part: either how much it was sold for, or how much it cost me to get rid of it.
- I want to note where a part will likely end up at the end of its useful lifetime, and to rank its utility during that lifetime and its value or destructiveness after that lifetime.