Re: Help! I can't support normalization

"Mikito Harakiri" <mikharakiri_at_yahoo.com> wrote in message news:bdf69bdf.0211051522.554294f8_at_posting.google.com...
> Heinz Huber <hhuber_at_racon-linz.at> wrote in message
news:<Xns92BC5BBF3247hhuberraconlinzat_at_195.3.96.116>...
> > phantomtoe_at_yahoo.com (Rowan) wrote in
> > news:4bbf8d70.0211010748.727d38ef_at_posting.google.com:
> >
> > > Greetings all,
> > >
> > > I have read with great interest the discussions regarding
> > > normalization. I understand it. I can do it. Unfortunately, I
> > > cannot convince the people I work with how important it is. I am a
> > > newbie and don't know how to support my argument that our database
> > > must be normalized. When I began at this company three months ago
> > > soon after graduation I found that the sql server 2000 database was
> > > completely corrupt. Primary keys were not declared, (let alone
> > > foreign keys), fields appeared multiple times throughout tables with
> > > different names, etc. Pretty much every bad thing you could think of
> > > existed in this database. Reports are very difficult to create. I
> > > have since redesigned and built a new database and am now in the
> > > process of reworking the vb application to fit the new database,
> > > including edi remapping. My problem is that being a newbie, I
> > > sometimes need to ask for vb help from the other programmer. An
> > > example is yesterday I was struggling with an aspect of concatenating
> > > an employee Last Name and a First Name. I displayed a list of
> > > concatenated names in a datacombo but wanted to store the Employeeid
> > > in a customer table. When I asked the programmer for help, he said
> > > just concatenate the names in the field in the employee table and call
> > > it "name". I said no. He asked why. I didn't have an answer. Could
> > > anyone give me an answer? I would like a well supported argument to
> > > put this silliness to rest. I appreciate anyone's thoughts and ideas.
> > > Please enlighten me!
> >
> > Apart from what others have said considering using the first and last
name
> > separately, you can also take a look at marriages or other name changes.
> > Most time, only the last name changes. Do you really want to risk
> > accidently changing the first name, too?
>
> OK. People unanimously voted for the separation of the Last Name and a
> First Name.
>
> How about mantissa and logarithm of a decimal number? For example, why
>
> 1.33e-12
>
> couldn't be considered as a concatenation of the "first name" 1.33 and
> the "last name" -12. Wouldn't it be better store a number in 2
> columns?

You always need to know what the data means.

If it is a currency exchange rate then it should be in one column.

If it is major and minor releases of a software product then they should be in two columns.
(Note to myself: go back and change my versions table to use two columns:-)

Neil Received on Wed Nov 06 2002 - 13:20:29 CET