On a recent episode of .NET Rocks, hosts Carl and Richard along with guest Julie Lerman have an interesting discussion–right at the beginning of the episode–on how important it is these days to normalize the table structures in your relational databases.

Richard goes so far as to suggest it might be an “obsolete concept.” That it is more important to persist “the truth at the time.”

“I was taught Third Normal Form decades ago by C.J. Date…and so it’s been a real struggle to say it’s my instinct and I think it’s wrong!”

Richard Campbell, 14 November 2019

Personally, I’ve felt a little guilty contemplating denormalized database solutions to solve my problems on different occasions. It’s certainly a relief to know that a) I’m not alone and b) denormalized solutions might be more the norm than the exception.