Database Design
Schema Design Principles
Normalization Guidelines
-- 1NF: Atomic values, no repeating groups
-- 2NF: No partial dependencies on composite keys
-- 3NF: No transitive dependencies
-- Users table (normalized)
CREATE TABLE users (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
email VARCHAR(255) UNIQUE NOT NULL,
created_at TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);
-- Addresses table (separate entity)
CREATE TABLE addresses (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
user_id INTEGER REFERENCES users(id) ON DELETE CASCADE,
street VARCHAR(255),
city VARCHAR(100),
country VARCHAR(100),
is_primary BOOLEAN DEFAULT false
);
Denormalization for Performance
-- When read performance matters more than write consistency
CREATE TABLE order_summaries (
id SERIAL PRIMARY KEY,
order_id INTEGER REFERENCES orders(id),
customer_name VARCHAR(255), -- Denormalized from customers
total_amount DECIMAL(10,2),
item_count INTEGER,
last_updated TIMESTAMPTZ DEFAULT NOW()
);
Index Design
Common Index Patterns
-- B-tree (default) for equality and range queries
CREATE INDEX idx_users_email ON users(email);
-- Composite index (order matters!)
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_user_date ON orders(user_id, created_at DESC);
-- Partial index for specific conditions
CREATE INDEX idx_active_users ON users(email) WHERE deleted_at IS NULL;
-- GIN index for array/JSONB columns
CREATE INDEX idx_posts_tags ON posts USING GIN(tags);
-- Covering index (includes additional columns)
CREATE INDEX idx_orders_covering ON orders(user_id) INCLUDE (total, status);