CHAPTER 4NORMALIZING A DATA MODEL

Data normalization is probably one of the most talked-about aspects of database modeling. Before building your data model, you must answer a few questions about normalization. These questions include whether or not to use the formal normalization forms, which of these forms to use, and when to denormalize.

To explain normalization, we share a little bit of history and outline the most commonly used normal forms. We don’t dive very deeply into each normal form; there are plenty of other texts that describe and examine every detail of normalization. Instead, our purpose is to give you the tools necessary to identify the current state of your data, set your goals, and normalize (and denormalize) your data as needed. ...

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