> Things that aren't normalized are "ad hoc," or really just "input." I agree that every denormalization is "ad hoc". It may not even feel this way because so

> Things that aren't normalized are "ad hoc," or really just "input." I agree that every denormalization is "ad hoc". It may not even feel this way because sometimes such ad-hocs become intimately tied into the system performance architecture. However I'm not sure if I agree with "just input", or maybe that's a different way of saying that: sometimes (often) you denormalize from 3NF to avoid a join. Often you can demonstrate that avoiding join is benefitial, by looking at query plan. But the problem with teaching is that people become generally more afraid of joins, somehow thinking that every join is killing performance or something. ChatGPT produces a lot of FUD around joins and performance, unfortunately...