The Impact of XML Databases Normalization on Design and Usability of Internet Applications

Authors

  • Hosam F. El-Sofany Lecturer, 1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Qatar University.
  • Fayed F. M. Ghaleb Associate Professor, Ain-Shams University
  • Samir Abou El-Seoud Professor

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v3i2.1265

Keywords:

Database design, Functional, Mulivalued, and Join dependencies, Normalization theory, XML

Abstract


Database normalization is a process which eliminates redundancy, organizes data efficiently and improves data consistency. Functional, multivalued, and join dependencies (FDs, MVDs, and JDs) play fundamental roles in relational databases where they provide semantics for the data and at the same time are the foundations for database design. In this study we investigate the issue of defining functional, multivalued and join dependencies and their normal forms in XML database model. We show that, like relational databases, XML documents may contain redundant information, and this redundancy may cause update anomalies. Furthermore, such problems are caused by certain dependencies among paths in the document. Our goal is to find a way for converting an arbitrary XML Schema to a well-designed one that avoids these problems. We extend the notion of tuple for relational databases to the XML model. We show that an XML tree can be represented as a set of tree tuples. We introduce the definitions of FD, MVD, and JD and new Normal Forms of XML Schema that based on these dependencies (X-1NF, X-2NF, X-3NF, X-BCNF, X-4NF, and X-5NF). We show that our proposed normal forms are necessary and sufficient to ensure all conforming XML documents have no redundancies.

Author Biographies

Hosam F. El-Sofany, Lecturer, 1Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Qatar University.

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University, Lecturer

Fayed F. M. Ghaleb, Associate Professor, Ain-Shams University

Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University

Samir Abou El-Seoud, Professor

PSUT, CS Dept, Professor

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Published

2010-05-25

How to Cite

El-Sofany, H. F., Ghaleb, F. F. M., & Abou El-Seoud, S. (2010). The Impact of XML Databases Normalization on Design and Usability of Internet Applications. International Journal of Advanced Corporate Learning (iJAC), 3(2), pp. 4–13. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijac.v3i2.1265

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Section

Papers