Normalization for Normal People -- How Much is That Doggie in the WIndow?

Many, perhaps even most, databases involve tracking one or more kinds of transactions. That's because, in a general sense, a transaction is more than the exchange of goods for money. Purchases, of course, are transactions, and we can start our investigation of transactions by looking at the components of a purchase as a way to get to an understanding of how transactions work and how the database must be designed to handle them. Next time I'll try to expand that to non-sales transactions.