self referencing tables, good or bad?

Posted by NimChimpsky on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by NimChimpsky
Published on 2012-11-30T13:08:06Z Indexed on 2012/11/30 17:19 UTC
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sql

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database-design

Representing geographical locations within an application, the design of the underlying data model suggests two clear options (or maybe more?).

One table with a self referencing parent_id column uk - london (london parent id = UK id)

or two tables, with a one to many relationship using a foreign key.

My preference is for one self-refercing table as it easily allows to extend into as many sub regions as required.

IN general do people veer away from self referencing tables, or are they A-OK ?

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