CHAPTER 6

RELATIONAL DATABASE DESIGN

After reading this chapter, the reader will understand:

  • Features of a relational database to qualify as a good relational database
  • Decomposition that resolves the problem of redundancy and null values
  • The concept of functional dependencies that plays a key role in developing a good database schema
  • Introduction of normal forms and the process of normalization
  • Normal forms based on functional dependencies that are 1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF
  • Additional properties of decomposition, namely, lossless-join and dependency preservation property.
  • Comparison of 3NF and BCNF
  • Higher normal forms 4NF and 5NF that are based on multivalued and join dependencies
  • The process of denormalization

The primary issue in designing any ...

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