Re: A Normalization Question

>Neo,
>
>It appears to me the left vertical leg of the letter "r" in "brown" is
>the same as the left vertical leg of the letter "n". The curved part of
>the "r" looks like the curved part of the "n". Further, the circular
>part of the "b" looks suspiciously similar to the rightmost 135 degrees
>of the "o". Cannot, then, this example be further "normalized"?
>
>Steve Lancour
>

This degree of normalization might be necessary in some data structures. If the database program is written to accept this degree of normalization, it would seem to be a great advantage.

For instance, one constant aggravation is the lack of integration between front office and back office operations. Why no integration? Because they were written as standalone modules, all containing redundant information. If the database program itself forced the designer to point to one and only one unique instance of a thing, the integration of back and front office would have happened automatically as system layers were added.

In your example above, a graphics shop might find it very useful to have exact degree of rotation of letter portions, linked to a specific job, linked to a specific customer and purchase order.

The method of normalizing data by adding more tables with greater degrees of detail seems to me to be the very source of the lack of integration problem.

Forcing users to use pointers to unique things seems a rational alternative for a manager who want to link every bit of important data to every other bit of important data.

V Harris Received on Fri Jul 09 2004 - 15:08:46 CEST