Given a category , a diagram is an index category paired with a functor .

Remarks

is considered finite when its indexing category is a finite.
is considered discrete category
Often is a simple category containing just a few objects and morphisms.
For example, a commutative square is a category that contains just 4 objects and 5 non-trivial morphisms (4 sides and 1 diagonal).
This notion is use in the definition of a limit.