ebarti DDIA Data Modeling
A reference skill for designing data models, picking storage engines, and choosing encoding/dataflow strategies. Knowledge is split across 8 categories with progressive disclosure: load only the references relevant to the decision in front of you.
Quick Start
- Open
guidelines.md— find your task, symptom, or topic. - Load only the listed reference files (typically 1-3).
- Apply the rules and patterns; consult
examples.mdfiles for concrete code/schema. - For multi-step decisions, follow the relevant workflow under
workflows/.
Contents
References
| Category | Files | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
relational-document-models |
knowledge, rules, examples | Relational vs document trade-offs, joins, schema-on-write vs schema-on-read |
graph-models |
knowledge, rules, examples | Property graphs, triple stores, Cypher/SPARQL/Datalog, traversal patterns |
event-sourcing-cqrs |
knowledge, rules, examples | Append-only event logs, CQRS read views, DataFrames for analytics |
oltp-storage |
knowledge, rules, examples | LSM-trees, B-trees, in-memory engines, write/read trade-offs |
olap-storage |
knowledge, rules, examples | Columnar layout, vectorized execution, separation of storage and compute |
specialized-indexes |
knowledge, rules, examples | Multidimensional, geo (R-tree), full-text, vector indexes |
encoding-formats |
knowledge, rules, examples | JSON, Protobuf, Avro, Thrift; schema evolution and compatibility |
dataflow-modes |
knowledge, rules, examples | Databases, REST/RPC services, messaging, durable execution |
Workflows
workflows/choosing-database-type.md— relational vs document vs graph vs columnarworkflows/choosing-storage-engine.md— LSM vs B-tree vs in-memory vs columnarworkflows/choosing-encoding-format.md— JSON vs Avro vs Protobuf vs Thriftworkflows/designing-event-sourced-system.md— event log + CQRS read views
Workflows
| Task | Workflow |
|---|---|
| Choose between relational/document/graph/columnar database | workflows/choosing-database-type.md |
| Choose storage engine (LSM/B-tree/in-memory/columnar) | workflows/choosing-storage-engine.md |
| Pick wire encoding format & schema evolution strategy | workflows/choosing-encoding-format.md |
| Design an event-sourced system with CQRS | workflows/designing-event-sourced-system.md |
Guidelines
See guidelines.md for:
- Task-based file selection (database choice, storage choice, analytics, encoding, services)
- Symptom/question lookup (joins, connected data, audit, write throughput, etc.)
- Topic-by-topic file index (8 categories, 24 files)
- Decision trees for the most common selection paths