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The 64 Kilobyte Question
: Web Developer Quiz BlogAnswers to Episode 4 (”What’s ‘normal’, really?”)
Well that was a raging success… not!
Apparently database normalization isn’t something that web developers find all that interesting. (But thanks to malikyte and xhtmlcoder for keeping the question from being a complete ghost town!)
That’s a shame, though — there are all sorts of pragmatic reasons behind good data design. To name just a few: properly designed tables often perform better than their de-normalized brethren, normalized data is much easier to aggregate successfully, and (most importantly) properly designed tables are much easier to understand.
That last one’s really the crux behind normalizing tables. Remember — computers don’t care if we write good code; when we write good code, it’s so that future developers won’t curse our names. Data normalization falls into the same future-proofing category.
Anyway, though: on to the answers. I’ll be brief, I promise.
- The FDA’s nutritional content database is — to my utter surprise — actually 3NF (everything has a primary key, and every piece of data appears to be atomic). I have some quibbles with a couple of the design choices, but they’re actually pretty minor. It’s pretty remarkable when you come across data this clean out of the box.
- Although the population demographic …
Episode 4: What’s “normal,” really?
A few weeks ago, I posted a scavenger hunt for public data (answers); today we’ll return to dealing with that data.
Answers to Episode 3 (”One of these things…”)
Answers to last week’s questions.
Episode 3: “One of these things…”
This week’s question: “one of these things is not like the other…”
Answers to Episode 2 (Real-life regular expressions)
If you missed it, last week’s challenge dealt with deciphering regular expressions and finding subtle bugs within ‘em.
As with last week, before getting to the actual answers please indulge while I pontificate a bit.
Episode 2: Real-world regular expressions
If you know how — and when — and why — to use regular expressions, they’re indispensable. So this week, regular expressions will be our theme.
Answers to Episode 1 (Scavenger Hunt)
If you missed it, this week’s challenge deals with finding computer-readable public data resources. Before getting to the answers, though, let’s talk a little about technique.
Episode 1: Scavenger hunt!
Let’s kick things off with something a bit unusual: a virtual scavenger hunt.
At some point, nearly every web geek gets a chance to hack on some open data, usually from a government source. The buzzword here is “mashup,” but knowing how to find and consume openly available data will remain a valuable skill long after its faddishness ends.
Welcome to the quiz!
Sharpen your pencils, dust off your keyboards, and put on your thinking caps — the Web Developer’s Quiz is coming.
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