# Database Normalization and Primary Keys

DevFeed: [Database Normalization and Primary Keys](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/database-normalization-and-primary-keys-34585.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://tapoueh.org/blog/2018/03/database-normalization-and-primary-keys/>)

Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author

Published: 2018-03-09T17:41:33Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/dimitri-fontaine.md>)

Topics: [Databases](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/databases.md>), [Database](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/database.md>), [Structured-data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/structured-data.md>), [SQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sql.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>)

Tags: [article](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/article.md>), [database](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/database.md>), [reference](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/reference.md>), [sql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sql.md>), [structured](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/structured.md>), [transitive-dependencies](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/transitive-dependencies.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains database normalization and the role of primary keys in relational database design. It reviews normal forms from 1NF through DKNF and discusses dependencies, candidate keys, and logically structured data used with SQL.

## Source excerpt

In our previous article we saw three classic Database Modelization Anti-Patterns. The article also contains a reference to a Primary Key section of my book The Art of PostgresQL, so it's only fair that I would now publish said Primary Key section! So in this article, we dive into Primary Keys as being a cornerstone of database normalization. It's so important to get Primary Keys right that you would think everybody knows how to do it, and yet, most of the primary key constraints I've seen used in database design are actually not primary keys at all.