While developing any application software or in a process of dynamic
web page development we must use a database to store the records. Database normalization is the process of improving the efficiency of a database. A normalized database is the key to data-integrity in designing any database-driven application or websites development. The normalization process organizes a database with consistent, relevant and non-redundant records.
The basic purposes of normalization:
- Remove any modification anomaly from the database
- Reduce the time in redesigning while extending the database
- Support for all regular queries
A series of guidelines or rules have evolved so far on normalizing databases which are now standard practices for developing databases in organizations providing application and website development services . These rules are known as Normal Forms (NF) and numbered from one (First Normal Form or 1NF) through five (Fifth Normal Form or 5NF).
First Normal Form (1NF): Setting the rules to organize the database
- Remove duplicate columns from individual tables
- Create separate tables for each group of related data or attribute
- Assign a primary key to identify each row in a table
Second Normal Form (2NF): Removing the duplicate values
- Place sets of similar data applicable to multiple rows of a table, in separate tables.
- Use foreign keys to relate these new tables
Third Normal Form (3NF): Field elimination
- Remove fields or columns that are not dependent on the primary key.
The fourth and the fifth normal forms are scarcely used in practice and if disregarded, the database functionality may not be affected.
The normalization rules are all cumulative in nature, i.e., the Second Normal Form can be implemented only when all criteria of the First Normal Form are met.
Be it any stand-alone application or a
custom web development process, the normalization rules define how efficient the inbuilt database is
