301read14.md

Normalizing a database

What is it?

Database normalization is a process used to organize a database into tables and columns.

Each table should be a specific topic.

The 3 main reasons to normalize the database:

• Minimize duplicate data
• Minimize or avoid data modification issues
• Simplify queries

How to Normalize

There are three common forms of database normalization: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd normal form. They are also abbreviated as 1NF, 2NF, and 3NF respectively.

The forms are progressive, meaning that to qualify for 3rd normal form a table must first satisfy the rules for 2nd normal form, and 2nd normal form must adhere to those for 1st normal form.

• First Normal Form – The information is stored in a relational table with each column containing atomic values. There are no repeating groups of columns.
• Second Normal Form – The table is in first normal form and all the columns depend on the table’s primary key.
• Third Normal Form – the table is in second normal form and all of its columns are not transitively dependent on the primary key