My friend asked me if my database was normalized.
I’m not so sure of the answer and needed to know more about this thing.
What is database normalization and de-normalization?
Should I Normalize My Database?
Database (DB) Normalization plays a dynamic role in database programming where you can expand the lifetime of your program by selecting the proper (normalized) form of your database tables. You can do this by analyzing your database first and check for the proper workaround.
Database normalization aims to remove uncontrolled redundancy which occupies your storage and being wasted. You may also achieved to eliminate the immortal anomalies that are present in an unnormalized database such as insert anomaly, update anomaly, and delete anomaly. These three arises on an unorganized database structure and make the application/program inefficient.
Reading a lot of articles and write-ups can help you more of an in-depth knowledge of Database management systems/databases in their proper implementations and maintenance. De-normalization in other words is the unnormalized form of database.
Should I Normalize My Database?
Normalization is the process or method of organizing or classifying into tables in a way that the outcome of using the database are always unequivocal or clear when creating a database. It may have the effect of duplicating or replicating data within the database and frequently results in the creation of supplementary tables.
Though normalization is inclined to increase the duplication of data, it doesn’t establish redundancy which is pointless duplication. Normalization is normally an improvement process after the initial exercise of identifying the data objects that should be in the database, identifying their relationships, and defining the required tables and columns in every table.
The table above is an example of normalization in a database. Supposed you have this table for keeping track of the price of the items. If you want to delete a customer, you will also be deleting a price. Normalizing data in this example would mean splitting the table into two tables.
The first table will contain the information about every customer and the product they purchased while the second table will contain the information about every product and its price. Adding or deleting to either table will not affect the other.
