Hi all,
Maybe I don't quite grasp the concept fully but does normalization make working in PHP harder? Don't you now have to connect to a bunch of differant tables to do inserts and updates if you are normalized instead of just connecting once? I was wondering if it was more for static data as opposed to a dynamic web site?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks
PHP and Normalization
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JPlush76
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Personally I think it all depends on what type of website you do. Most people will tell you that complete normalization is usually not needed but going up to the 3rd normal form is usually wise.
In a large, corporate environment normalization is a must. If you have millions of records and now something is out of wack, you're going to be hard pressed to find the cause and solution. However if your database is normalized you dont have to worry about data redundancy issues which is one less headache.
Here's one sample.. you have an order table that contains everything about the customer and the order, lets say that customer orders 200 times from you and the 201st time she wants to change her address. Now you have 200 records that are outdated and they need to be updated.
If you are in normal form this is no more of a worry than a rainy day because you have a table dedicated to customer info so you update on field and now those 201 order records are still as good as gold.
In a large, corporate environment normalization is a must. If you have millions of records and now something is out of wack, you're going to be hard pressed to find the cause and solution. However if your database is normalized you dont have to worry about data redundancy issues which is one less headache.
Here's one sample.. you have an order table that contains everything about the customer and the order, lets say that customer orders 200 times from you and the 201st time she wants to change her address. Now you have 200 records that are outdated and they need to be updated.
If you are in normal form this is no more of a worry than a rainy day because you have a table dedicated to customer info so you update on field and now those 201 order records are still as good as gold.