Database Normalization

Hi guys !!! Database Normalization is must to be known and understood by any IT professional who is working with relational databases.
For most of the guys getting started to learn the basic concepts, this topic proves a little hard to grasp. In my case, it haunted me. Even after understanding it many times, I just kept forgetting it.

So, keeping that in mind, we will try to discuss the Normalization in way easy to understand and remember as well. In this post, we will first get  the basic idea, what is normalization , its relevance and how it is achieved. It's types will be discussed in other posts.

Now, In the nutshell, normalizaion is about two things.

1. Removal of data redundancy (repetition of same data) over same fields in the records in database table.
2. Sensible data dependencies. To make it understand better, its like having a table in which all the columns are related.

Based on different level of the two factors mentioned above, we have different types of Database Normalization.
We First , Second , Third, fourth and fifth normal form. The first three normal forms are most practically used forms of normalization.

Here are some points highlighting its significance of Normalization.

• Removal of redundancy --> uniqueness of records in table, Saving of storage space and Reduction in time to write or insert data into database
• Sensible data dependencies --> Elimination of unnecessary relationships between columns within/among the database tables. And Retrieving data becomes simple and logical in terms of the query writing.
• Database tables become easy to maintain.

After getting the basic idea and significance of Normalization, Let's know how it is achieved. Basically, it's done by separating data by creating new table(s) having primary - foreign key relationships with main table. The intent here is to achieve some level of the two factors I mentioned in the beginning.

I'll be back with more posts discussing First, Second and Third normal form.

See you then, Bye !!!