AlgoPlus//structures / gen-agg
Read the theory

Generalization & Aggregation

The extended-ER abstractions for inheritance and relationships-about-relationships.

Abstraction
Generalization
Step
1/1
Abstraction
Legend
Entity
ISA
Relationship
AI Tutor Workspace
In a nutshell
These are two ways the ER model captures structure that plain entities can't. Generalization pulls the features many entity types share into one general superclass; its subclasses inherit those features and add their own, joined by an ISA ('is a') link. Aggregation treats an entire relationship — together with the entities it connects — as a single higher-level entity, so another relationship can attach to it.
Ready
Press play to begin the cinematic walkthrough.
Generalization/specialization links a superclass to subclasses via ISA, so subclasses inherit and extend. Aggregation treats a whole relationship-and-its-entities as one abstract entity another relationship can connect to.
Key terms
Go deeper in the lesson
Read the full theory, intuition & complexity for Generalization & Aggregation.