Database Normalization

Normal Forms with examples

Notes Ahead: This post derives from a set of slides and talks I give about Databases, Normalization and Normal Forms. Please forgive the quick and sometimes casual writing style. Chalk it up to my style of oral communication that has bled through to this writing.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

This post is about Database Normalization, a rather abstract concept in relational databases, with precise definitions that are usually described by mathematical proofs and vocabulary with names that don’t generally help remember the heady definitions that are the stages of normal form.

I’ll try to ensure you get the high-order bits and stay away from the more heady math proofs which have done less to help me understand the concepts than concrete examples.

Throughout I’ll include examples of normal-form violations and how to normalize the violation to make the rules concrete. I won’t be providing math proofs as they are readily available from many resources on this subject AND if you can read them, then you don’t need this more down-to-earth discussion on the subject.

Also consider: Formatting SQL Statements for Readability

Prerequisites

This is not a primer for RDBMS, nor SQL programming (although there are no actual SQL queries in this…