MySQL - Supertype/Subtype design

Question

I need to create the following database:

For semi-trucks I don\'t need

Answer 1

I refer you to the "Info" tab under the following three tags:

class-table-inheritance single-table-inheritance shared-primary-key

The first two describe the two major design patterns for dealing with a class/subclass (aka type/subtype) situation when designing a relational database. The third descibes a technique for using a single primary key that gets assigned in the superclass table and gets propagated to the subclass tables.

They don't completely answer the questions you raise, but they shed some light on the whole topic. This topic, of mimicking inheritance in SQL, comes up over and over again in both SO and the DBA area.