Abstract
In his seminal paper on the relational data model, E. F. Codd formulated a number of design principles for a relational database (Codd, 1970). These principles were originally formalised in terms of three normal forms: first normal form, second normal form and third normal form. The process of transforming a database design through these three normal forms is known as normalisation. By the mid-1970s third normal form was shown to have certain inadequacies and a stronger normal form, known as Boyce-Codd normal form, was introduced (Codd, 1974). Subsequently Fagin introduced fourth normal form and indeed fifth normal form (Fagin 1977, 1979). In this chapter we consider Codd 's original ideas on normalisation whilst also describing a graphic technique used for designing fully normalised schema. We particularly emphasise the use of normalisation as a bottom-up technique for database design.
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12.10 References
Codd E. F. (1970). ‘A Relational Model for Large Shared Data Banks.’ CACM. 13 (1). 377–387.
Codd E. F. (1974). ‘Recent Investigations into Relational Database Systems.’ Proc. IFIP Congress.
Fagin R. (1977). ‘Multi-Valued Dependencies and a New Normal Form for Relational Databases.’ ACM Trans. on Database Systems. 2(1).
Fagin R. (1979). ‘Normal Forms and Relational Database Operators. ACM SIGMOD Int. Symposium on the Management of Data.’ 153–160.
Kent W. (1983). ‘A Simple Guide to Five Normal Forms in Relational Database Theory.’ CACM. 26(2).
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© 1996 P. Beynon-Davies
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Beynon-Davies, P. (1996). Normalisation. In: Database Systems. Computer Science Series. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13722-0_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-13722-0_12
Publisher Name: Palgrave, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-63667-1
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