Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watnot!watmath!clyde!rutgers!lll-lcc!well!mjr
From: mjr@well.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.databases
Subject: Re: Normalized Databases
Message-ID: <2870@well.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 5-Apr-87 20:07:27 EST
Article-I.D.: well.2870
Posted: Sun Apr  5 20:07:27 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 8-Apr-87 04:05:14 EST
References: <43239@beno.seismo.CSS.GOV> <2010@blia.BLI.COM>
Reply-To: mjr@well.UUCP (Matthew Rapaport)
Distribution: na
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link, Sausalito, CA
Lines: 16
Keywords: normal form, relational

Well Jeff, you certainly got things stirred up here...
In general, I don't think that normalization is a "religious"
issue, there are sound technical and logical reasons for
using it.  On the other hand, "if it ain't broke don't
fix it" works if you are aware of the problems you can
get into with unnormalized relations, and prepare to
deal with them when they come up.

Date has been mentioned here but here are references to
his most famous work (really the best treatment of
the whole of relational theory I've seen)
C.J. Date  "An Introduction to Database Systems"
Addison-Wesley, 1986 (fourth Edition.) Vol I and also
Volume II which tends to deal with more "real world"
problems after the foundation is layed in Vol I...
Be well, mjr@well