A New Normal Form for the Design of Relational Database Schemata.

Carlo Zaniolo: A New Normal Form for the Design of Relational Database Schemata. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 7(3): 489-499(1982)

@article{DBLP:journals/tods/Zaniolo82,
  author    = {Carlo Zaniolo},
  title     = {A New Normal Form for the Design of Relational Database Schemata},
  journal   = {ACM Trans. Database Syst.},
  volume    = {7},
  number    = {3},
  year      = {1982},
  pages     = {489-499},
  ee        = {http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/319732.319749, db/journals/tods/Zaniolo82.html},
  bibsource = {DBLP, http://dblp.uni-trier.de}
}

BibTeX

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of database schema design in the framework of the relational data model and functional dependencies. It suggests that both Third Normal Form (3NF) and Boyce-Codd Normal Form (BCNF) supply an inadequate basis for relational schema design. The main problem with 3NF is that it is too forgiving and does not enforce the separation principle as strictly as it should. On the other hand, BCNF is incompatible with the principle of representation and prone to computational complexity. Thus a new normal form, which lies between these two and captures the salient qualities of both is proposed. The new normal form is stricter than 3NF, but it is still compatible with the representation principle. First a simpler definition of 3NF is derived, and the analogy of this new definition to the definition of BCNF is noted. This analogy is used to derive the new normal form. Finally, it is proved that Bernstein's algorithm for schema design synthesizes schemata that are already in the new normal form.

Copyright © 1982 by the ACM, Inc., used by permission. Permission to make digital or hard copies is granted provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or direct commercial advantage, and that copies show this notice on the first page or initial screen of a display along with the full citation.

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BibTeX

References

[1]: Alfred V. Aho, Catriel Beeri, Jeffrey D. Ullman: The Theory of Joins in Relational Databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 4(3): 297-314(1979) BibTeX
[2]: William Ward Armstrong: Dependency Structures of Data Base Relationships. IFIP Congress 1974: 580-583 BibTeX
[3]: Catriel Beeri, Philip A. Bernstein: Computational Problems Related to the Design of Normal Form Relational Schemas. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 4(1): 30-59(1979) BibTeX
[4]: Catriel Beeri, Philip A. Bernstein, Nathan Goodman: A Sophisticate's Introduction to Database Normalization Theory. VLDB 1978: 113-124 BibTeX
[5]: Catriel Beeri, Ronald Fagin, John H. Howard: A Complete Axiomatization for Functional and Multivalued Dependencies in Database Relations. SIGMOD Conference 1977: 47-61 BibTeX
[6]: Philip A. Bernstein: Synthesizing Third Normal Form Relations from Functional Dependencies. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 1(4): 277-298(1976) BibTeX
[7]: Philip A. Bernstein, Nathan Goodman: What does Boyce-Codd Normal Form Do? VLDB 1980: 245-259 BibTeX
[8]: Joachim Biskup, Umeshwar Dayal, Philip A. Bernstein: Synthesizing Independent Database Schemas. SIGMOD Conference 1979: 143-151 BibTeX
[9]: E. F. Codd: Further Normalization of the Data Base Relational Model. IBM Research Report, San Jose, California RJ909: (1971) BibTeX
[10]: E. F. Codd: Recent Investigations in Relational Data Base Systems. IFIP Congress 1974: 1017-1021 BibTeX
[11]: C. J. Date: An Introduction to Database Systems, 2nd Edition. Addison-Wesley 1977
BibTeX
[12]: Ronald Fagin: Multivalued Dependencies and a New Normal Form for Relational Databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 2(3): 262-278(1977) BibTeX
[13]: Ronald Fagin: Normal Forms and Relational Database Operators. SIGMOD Conference 1979: 153-160 BibTeX
[14]: Tok Wang Ling, Frank Wm. Tompa, Tiko Kameda: An Improved Third Normal Form for Relational Databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 6(2): 329-346(1981) BibTeX
[15]: David Maier, Alberto O. Mendelzon, Yehoshua Sagiv: Testing Implications of Data Dependencies. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 4(4): 455-469(1979) BibTeX
[16]: Jorma Rissanen: Theory of Relations for Databases - A Tutorial Survey. MFCS 1978: 536-551 BibTeX
[17]: ...
[18]: Carlo Zaniolo, Michel A. Melkanoff: On the Design of Relational Database Schemata. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 6(1): 1-47(1981) BibTeX

Referenced by

Joseph Albert, Yannis E. Ioannidis, Raghu Ramakrishnan: Conjunctive Query Equivalence of Keyed Relational Schemas. PODS 1997: 44-50
Serge Abiteboul, Richard Hull, Victor Vianu: Foundations of Databases. Addison-Wesley 1995, ISBN 0-201-53771-0
Contents
C. J. Date, Ronald Fagin: Simple Conditions for Guaranteeing Higher Normal Forms in Relational Databases. ACM Trans. Database Syst. 17(3): 465-476(1992)
Richard Hull: Relative Information Capacity of Simple Relational Database Schemata. PODS 1984: 97-109

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