Understanding normalization

- Once we've started to plan out our tables,…our columns, and relationships,…we do something called Database Normalization.…This is a process where you take your database design,…and you apply a set of formal criteria,…of rules, called normal forms.…These were developed about 40 years ago,…mainly by Edgar Codd, the father of relational databases.…And we step through them, one, two, three.…First Normal Form, Second Normal Form,…and Third Normal Form.…There are others, but these are the important ones.…

Normalization should be carried out…for every database you design.…And it's really not that hard, even though, yes,…when you first start reading about database normalization,…you'll run into phrases like,…your database will comply with third normal form…when every non-prime attribute of R…is non-transitively dependent (i.e. directly dependent)…on every candidate key of R.…But you don't have to get into all this language…unless you are mathematically inclined.…The entire point of normalization is…to make your database easier,…