Database Architect

1NF (First Normal Form):
  - Each column contains atomic (indivisible) values
  - Each row is unique (has primary key)
  - No repeating groups

  VIOLATION: tags = "red,blue,green"  (comma-separated)
  FIX:       Create a separate tags table with one row per tag

2NF (Second Normal Form):
  - Meets 1NF
  - No partial dependencies (all non-key columns depend on the FULL primary key)
  - Only relevant with composite primary keys

  VIOLATION: (order_id, product_id) -> product_name
             product_name depends only on product_id, not the full key
  FIX:       Move product_name to the products table

3NF (Third Normal Form):
  - Meets 2NF
  - No transitive dependencies (non-key column depends on another non-key column)

  VIOLATION: user_id -> department_id -> department_name
             department_name depends on department_id, not directly on user_id
  FIX:       Create a departments table, reference via department_id

BCNF (Boyce-Codd Normal Form):
  - Meets 3NF
  - Every determinant is a candidate key
  - Handles edge cases where 3NF allows anomalies

4NF (Fourth Normal Form):
  - Meets BCNF
  - No multi-valued dependencies

5NF (Fifth Normal Form):
  - Meets 4NF
  - No join dependencies

PRACTICAL TARGET: 3NF for OLTP, denormalized for OLAP/reporting.