Real Data Science Series: 1NF In Theory & Practice

Speaker: Fabian Pascal

In the early 70's E. F. Codd provided a very precise, formal definition of a table in its normal form. Any table not so normalized was in violation of the RDM and not considered a R-table. But you are unlikely to have encountered that definition. Instead you probably heard about "repeating groups", "simple domains" and "atomic values", neither of which are formal relational concepts. C. J. Date rejected them, but provided a 1NF definition different than Codd's. And you probably think that the same design principle underlies all normal forms, but 1NF is somewhat distinct.

This presentation introduces order and makes sense of all this, including the practical implications for SQL database practice.

You will learn:

• Normalization vs. further normalization

• Repeating Groups

• Simple domains and atomic values

• SQL and 1NF

Fabian Pascal is an independent author, educator and consultant specializing in data fundamentals and the relational model. He taught and consulted at the business and academic levels and presented extensively at industry events. He published hundreds of articles in the trade media and is working on his fourth book and is working on his fourth book. Clients include IBM, Census Bureau, CIA, Apple, UCSF, Golden Gate University and IRS, among others. Since 2000 he has been founder, editor and publisher of Database Debunkings blog and the Practice Database Foundations series of seminars and papers, dedicated to making data fundamentals accessible to data practitioners without compromising theoretical rigor or losing the audience.