Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz

© C. J. Date 2019

C. J. DateDatabase Design and Relational Theoryhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-5540-7_16

16. The Principle of Orthogonal Design

C. J. Date¹ 

(1)

Healdsburg, California, USA

 

Orthogonal At right angles to; independent.

—David Darling:The Universal Book of Mathematics (2004)

I’ve said repeatedly in earlier parts of this book that normalization is the science (or a large part of the science, at any rate) underlying database design. Thus, it’s appropriate to begin this chapter with a quick review of normalization principles and a brief analysis of how well normalization meets its objectives.

Two Cheers for Normalization

Here first, then, is a simplified summary of the principles of normalization :

1. 1.

   A relvar not in 5NF should be decomposed ...