Re: A Normalization Question

From: Marshall Spight <mspight_at_dnai.com>
Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 16:19:51 GMT
Message-ID: <HAzHc.40830$JR4.1081@attbi_s54>

"VHarris001" <vharris001_at_aol.com> wrote in message news:20040709093849.29796.00001162_at_mb-m18.aol.com...

> But to offer this flexibility in a typically normalized database requires too
> many tables.

Where did you get the idea that it's important to keep the number of tables low? The number of tables is a reflection of the complexity of the structure of the data being modelled.

Sometimes I run in to something similiar with junior Java programmers. They have this idea that they want to minimize the number of classes. So they'll avoid making a new class even when there's a clear and useful abstraction, because they don't want to have "too many classes." The same issue applies there as well; the number of classes is a reflection of the complexity of the program.

Marshall Received on Fri Jul 09 2004 - 11:19:51 CDT