.NET Architecture & System Design Interview Question #63

What is database normalization?

Database Scaling, Partitioning, NoSQL & Data Consistency Mid-Level Intermediate

Quick Interview Answer

Normalization organizes relational data to reduce unnecessary duplication and maintain data integrity. It commonly separates entities and relationships into tables connected by keys.

Detailed Explanation

Normalization organizes relational data to reduce unnecessary duplication and maintain data integrity. It commonly separates entities and relationships into tables connected by keys.

Normalized models are often effective for transactional systems because updates have a clear source of truth. Excessive joins can become expensive for some read-heavy workloads, so architecture may use targeted denormalization where justified.

Code Example

Customer(Id, Name)
Order(Id, CustomerId, Date)
OrderItem(OrderId, ProductId, Qty)

Data is separated by responsibility.