Okuzeka
Software Engineering vocabulary · Databases and Persistence

Normalization

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/ˌnɔːrmələˈzeɪʃən/nounCore term

In software engineering, normalization means: The process of organizing tables so that each fact is stored in only one place, which reduces repeated data and prevents update mistakes.

In Turkish: normalizasyon, normalleştirme

How it is used

A standard topic in courses, interviews and design reviews. It is done step by step through normal forms (1NF, 2NF, 3NF and beyond). People say a schema is 'well normalized' or 'over-normalized', and sometimes choose to denormalize for read speed.

Example sentences

  1. Normalization moved the customer address out of the orders table into its own table.

  2. The interviewer asked me to explain normalization with a simple example.

Common collocations

  • database normalization
  • normalize a table
  • well normalized
  • level of normalization
  • normal formOne of a series of rules for table design (1NF, 2NF, 3NF and higher); each level removes a particular kind of repeated or badly placed data.
  • denormalizationDeliberately storing some data in more than one place, or combining tables, to make reads faster, while accepting more work to keep the copies correct.
  • ER diagramA drawing of a database design that shows the entities (usually tables), their attributes and the relationships between them, such as one-to-many.
  • schemaThe structure of a database: its tables, columns, data types, keys and relationships. In some products it is also a named group of tables inside a database.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Databases and Persistence

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: