Re: A Normalization Question
From: Paul <paul_at_test.com>
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 09:48:14 +0100
Message-ID: <GS7Hc.4295$Fc7.790377_at_stones.force9.net>
>
> With respect to dbs, normalization is the process of eliminating or
> replacing duplicate things with a reference to the original thing
> being represented. Within the context of a db, duplicate references
> are not considered redundant because they are unrelated to the thing
> being represented.
Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 09:48:14 +0100
Message-ID: <GS7Hc.4295$Fc7.790377_at_stones.force9.net>
Neo wrote:
>>You'll have to explain why storing "brown" three times is redundant, >>while storing ->5 three times is okay.
>
> With respect to dbs, normalization is the process of eliminating or
> replacing duplicate things with a reference to the original thing
> being represented. Within the context of a db, duplicate references
> are not considered redundant because they are unrelated to the thing
> being represented.
This is where the database's knowledge ends and the human mind begins; the jump from syntax to semantics.
Redundancy in terms of databases is about removing semantic duplicates, not about removing syntactic duplicates. i.e. about the logical level, not the physical level.
I think the type of redundancy you're talking about is more lower-level like information theory, Huffman coding etc.: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_theory
It sounds like you're trying to roll these two concepts into one when it's more powerful and useful to have them separate.
Paul. Received on Thu Jul 08 2004 - 10:48:14 CEST