Wk 4 Discussion – Normal Forms
Respond to the following in a minimum of 175 words: Read about normal forms from this week’s learning activities,
Provide 2 examples of why normal forms are being used in software engineering. Describe 2 consequences that are likely to occur if a relational database is built without normalizing the database. Share an example of these consequences using your own experience or from your readings.
Week 4 Discussion – Normal Forms
In software engineering databases are used to store data. A database management system is used to create insert or update data or can be said to access data Database management systems are used in software engineering. Data redundancy of data is highly possible in these situations. A specific software may be used in two of the related fields and while updating the data we find that the two similar names are present in one table. In this type of case, the repetition of data is called data redundancy. In this type of situation, normal forms are implemented. Normal forms are used to eliminate the redundancy in the database of the software so that the work can be done efficiently and without any hesitation (Geffen, 2018).
Normalization is also used to make the data less complex. As normalization divides the table into smaller parts, the complexity of the work is reduced as each table consists of compact information related to the task.
As mentioned before if someone makes any software that includes the use of a specific software two to three times the entry of that frequently used software would create data redundancy in that particular entry table. Suppose someone is making an online shopping software, so they need software like Google Maps multiple amount of times. For example, initially, they need to track the location of the users through Google Maps, and then for the tracking of the products by the users, Google Maps can be used to get the product delivered to the desired location Google Maps will be needed. In this type of situation while making data redundancy can happen because of the entry of Google Maps two to three times. Hence making the work efficient and confusing.
While entering the names of persons I feel is the most certain place of data redundancy. One time I entered the names of my friends who were interested in a picnic and the same name created confusion. Some of my friends needed to leave early, and some of them were vegetarian. While entering all the data in a single table the common names created confusion.
Reference
van Geffen, B. and Olteanu, D., 2018. QR Decomposition of Normalised Relational Data (Doctoral dissertation, MSc thesis, University of Oxford).
