Superclasses and Subclasses
As we discussed in Chapter 11, an entity type represents a set of entities of the same type
such as Staff, Branch, and PropertyForRent. We can also form entity types into a hierarchy
containing superclasses and subclasses.
Superclass An entity type that includes one or more distinct subgroupings of its
occurrences, which require to be represented in a data model.
Subclass A distinct subgrouping of occurrences of an entity type, which require
to be represented in a data model.
Entity types that have distinct subclasses are called superclasses. For example, the
entities that are members of the Staff entity type may be classified as Manager, SalesPersonnel,
and Secretary. In other words, the Staff entity is referred to as the superclass of the Manager,
SalesPersonnel, and Secretary subclasses. The relationship between a superclass and any