2nd Normal Form

Creating PostgreSQL Databases

Darryl Reeves

Industry Assistant Professor, New York University

Example: school textbooks

CREATE TABLE textbook (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    publisher_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    publisher_site VARCHAR(50),
    quantity SMALLINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
);

Example: school textbooks

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22

Example: inconsistency from updating url

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22

Example: inconsistency from updating url

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.newabc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22

Example: adding publisher without textbook

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22

Example: adding publisher without textbook

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22
??	??	New Horizons	www.nhorizon.com	??

Example: removing a textbook

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27
112	Statistical Concepts	Martin House	www.mh.com	22

Example: removing a textbook

id	title	publisher_name	publisher_site	quantity
23	Introductory Algebra: 1st Edition	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	32
74	Calculus Foundations	ABC Publishing	www.abc.com	27

Publisher requires separate table
Data anomalies from insertions and deletions

Satisfying 2nd Normal Form (2NF)

1NF is satisfied
All non-key columns are dependent on the table's PRIMARY KEY

Example: textbooks and publishers in 2NF

CREATE TABLE textbook (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    publisher_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    publisher_site VARCHAR(50),
    quantity SMALLINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0
);

Example: textbooks and publishers in 2NF

CREATE TABLE textbook (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    quantity SMALLINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
);

CREATE TABLE publisher (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    site VARCHAR(50)
);

Example: textbooks and publishers in 2NF

CREATE TABLE textbook (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    quantity SMALLINT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0,
    publisher_id INTEGER REFERENCES publisher(id)
);

CREATE TABLE publisher (
    id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
    name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
    site VARCHAR(50)
);

Let's practice!

Creating PostgreSQL Databases