Haunted House: A MySQL Normalization Story

This is the story of how I learned what structured databases really mean—and why MySQL normalization isn't just academic mumbo-jumbo, but the difference between a sturdy home and a paranormal nightmare. 🏚️ The Haunted Architecture: What I Built Wrong Picture a house where: The same family portrait hangs in every room Each bathroom has its own separate water heater Your address is written on every wall When you repaint one room, you have to repaint ALL rooms Absurd, right? Yet that's exactly what my database looked like: -- My "clever" single-table design (DON'T DO THIS) CREATE TABLE orders ( order_id INT PRIMARY KEY , customer_name VARCHAR ( 100 ), customer_email VARCHAR ( 100 ), customer_phone VARCHAR ( 20 ), customer_address TEXT , product_name VARCHAR ( 100 ), product_price DECIMAL ( 10 , 2 ), product_category VARCHAR ( 50 ), quantity INT , order_date DATETIME ); Look innocent? Let me show you what happens when a customer orders three items: +----------+---------------+-------------