What is the purpose of database normalization?

Database normalization is the process of organizing data in tables in such a way as to minimize redundancy and avoid anomalies during data update, insertion, and deletion.

The main goals of normalization:

• Eliminating data duplication, which saves space and simplifies maintenance.
• Ensuring data integrity and preventing contradictions.
• Improving the database structure for more efficient management and queries.

The normalization process typically involves several normal forms (1NF, 2NF, 3NF, etc.), each imposing certain requirements on the structure of tables and dependencies between data.

For example, instead of storing information about clients and their orders in one table, normalization would split the data into two tables — "Clients" and "Orders," linked by keys.