4.5. Definition of a Proper Table
There are good reasons for the data modeling principle that a well-designed table is a set of things of the same kind instead of a pile of unrelated items.
At one extreme, we have the “attribute split” tables, and on the other, the extreme conglomerated tables. When I’ve posted in newsgroups, I’ve referred to a “Britney Spears, Squids, and Automobiles” procedure and table for years—attempts to make one table or procedures serve as many purposes as possible. What is funny about this that there is a “Britney Spears or Squid” website (http://scienceblogs.com/deepseanews/2007/02/weekend_foolishness.php) posted after she shaved her head in 2007.
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