RE: Normalization was Left AS/400 and Returned

[rob@xxxxxxxxx]

If the only point of the file is two fields:  DayOfYear and Date, then I'd 
opt to replace the file with a function.

Rob Berendt
-- 
Group Dekko Services, LLC
Dept 01.073
PO Box 2000
Dock 108
6928N 400E
Kendallville, IN 46755
http://www.dekko.com





"Joe Pluta" <joepluta@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 
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05/04/2005 01:48 PM
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RE: Normalization was Left AS/400 and Returned






In practice, zip code is a perfectly acceptable way to identify state,
although I suppose there might be isolated cases where this is untrue.
But that's not really the issue.  Here's the real question: if zip code
WERE truly unique to a state, would you remove the state field from your
files?  I doubt it.

There are other examples.  Calendar files leap immediately to mind.  If
you have a situation where you need a simple one-byte flag for every day
in a year, do you create a file with a 365-byte array keyed by year, or
do you normalize to a daily file keyed by date?

The point is simple: like any other technique, database normalization
must be addressed as a business decision, and at times strategic
denormalization makes sense. 

Joe

> From: Douglas Handy
> 
> Steve,
> 
> > you cant have two towns in the same zip code?
> 
> Yes you can.  And in fact a (very) few even cross state boundaries.

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