Handling Hierarchy Data in Database

Question

I\'m curious to know what the best way (best practice) to handle hierarchies are in regards to database design. Here is a small example of how I usually handle them.

Answer 1

As MarkusQ and n8wrl have already pointed out, Joe Celko has some good stuff on this. I'll just add that there are multiple ways to model a hierarchy (Joe's book contains several I believe, not just one that he considers the "best"). Your final decision will hopefully take into account your own specific needs. Some of the different ways to model it are better for write-intensive operations while others are better for frequent or fast reads up and down the hierarchy. Just keep in mind what your system will be doing with it.