Chapter1

• Introduction
• File system vs DBMS
• Advantages of DBMS
• Storage of data in DBMS
• People who work with DBMS
 Data vs. information:
What is the difference?
• What is data? • What is information?
– Information is data that have
– Data can be defined in been organized and
many ways. Information communicated in a coherent
science defines data as and meaningful manner.
unprocessed information. – Data is converted into
information, and information is
converted into knowledge.
– Knowledge; information
evaluated and organized so
that it can be used purposefully.
What is the ultimate purpose of
a database management
system?
Is to transform

Data Information Knowledge Action

 Qualities of information
• Accuracy
• Timeliness
• Relevancy
 What is a database
• A database is any organized collection of data typically describing
the activities of one or more related organizations. Examples

• A university database might contain information about the following

• Entities such as students, faculty, courses and classrooms. (entities

are the basic units used in modeling class of concrete or abstract
objects.eg: building room, chair ….

• Relationship between entities such as students enrollment in

courses faculty teaching courses and the use of rooms and courses.
• A database is a collection of data which can be used:
alone, or combined / related to other data to provide
answers to the user’s question.

• Some examples of databases you may encounter in your

daily life are:
– a telephone book
– airline reservation system
– motor vehicle registration records
– papers in your filing cabinet
– files on your computer hard drive.
 Why do we need a database?
• Keep records of our:
– Clients
– Staff
– Volunteers
• To keep a record of activities and interventions;
• Keep sales records;
• Develop reports;
• Perform research
Fundamental building blocks
Tables comprise the fundamental building blocks of any database. If you're familiar with
spreadsheets, you'll find database tables extremely similar. Take a look at this example of a
table sample database:

The table above contains the employee information for our organization -- characteristics like
name, date of birth and title. Examine the construction of the table and you'll find that each
column of the table corresponds to a specific employee characteristic (or attribute in database
terms). Each row corresponds to one particular employee and contains his or her information.
That's all there is to it! If it helps, think of each one of these tables as a spreadsheet-style
listing of information.
 Types of Databases
• Non-relational databases
Non-relational databases place information in field categories that we create so that information is available for
sorting and disseminating the way we need it. The data in a non-relational database, however, is limited to that
program and cannot be extracted and applied to a number of other software programs, or other database files
within a school or administrative system. The data can only be "copied and pasted.“ Example: a
spread sheet

• Relational databases
In relational databases, fields can be used in a number of ways (and can be of variable length),
provided that they are linked in tables. It is developed based on a database model that provides for
logical connections among files (known as tables) by including identifying data from one table in
another table

Note :
Traditional database applications : most of the information is stored and accessed either textual or
numeric
Multimedia databases : it stores picture , video clips and sound messages
Geographic information systems: it can store and analyze maps, weather data and satellite images
 Selecting a database system:
Need Analysis
The needs analysis process will be specific to your organization but, at
a minimum, should answer the following questions:
• How many records we will warehouse and for how long?
• Who will be using the database and what tasks will they perform?
• How often will the data be modified? Who will make these
modifications?
• Who will be providing IT support for the database?
• What hardware is available? Is there a budget for purchasing
additional hardware?
• Who will be responsible for maintaining the data?
• Will data access be offered over the Internet? If so, what level of
access should be supported?
What is database management system
• A DBMS is a collection of programs which
provide management of databases , that enables the users to create and
maintain a database, control access to data contain a query language to
retrieve information easily
Facilities provided by DBMS :
1. Creating a file , addition of data , modification of data, creation addition and
deletion of files
2. Retrieving data collectively or selectively
3. Data stored can be indexed at the user’s discretion and direction
4. Various reports can be generated
5. Mathematical function can be performed and the data can be manipulated
6. To maintain data integrity and database use
• DBMS is a general purpose software system that facilitates the processes of
defining
constructing
manipulating
sharing databases among various users and applications

• Defining a database involving specifying the data types , structures and

constraints for the sat to be stored in the database.
• Constructing is the process of storing the data
• Manipulating includes such functions such as querying the database to retrieve
specific data
• Sharing a database allows multiple users and programs to access the database
concurrently.
 DBMS environment
users/ programmers
Applications programs/queries

Software to process
Queries/programs
DBMS software
Software to access stored data

Stored database
Stored database
(definition)
 Characteristics of data in a
database
• Shared
• Persistence
• Validity/integrity/correctness
• Security
• Consistency
• Non-redundancy
• Independence
 Advantages of DBMS
• Data independence
• Efficient data access
• Data integrity and security
• Reduction of redundancies
• Shared data
• Conflict resolution
 Three views of data
• External view – highest level of abstraction as
seen by the user . It describes the part of entire
database Student name
Student address

• Conceptual view : next higher level of abstraction

which is the sum total of user’s view and describes
what data are actually stored in the database
Student name : var char
Student address:var char
• Internal level – lowest level of abstraction at which
one describes how the data are physically stored

Student name :varchar:25

Student address:var:25
 Characteristics of a database
approach
• Self describing nature of a database system (database structure
&constraints)

• Insulation between programs and data and data abstraction

(program data independence and program operation
independence)

operation – function or method

interface of an operation includes operation name and data types
implementation of operation is specified separately and can be
changed without affecting the interface.

• Support of multiple views of the data

• Sharing of data and multi user transaction processing

 File system versus DBMS
Consider an example of an organization
• A company has a large collection of data on
employees , department, products, sales and so
on…
• This data is accessed concurrently by several
employees
• Queries about the data needs to be answered
quickly.
• Changes made to the data must be consistent
• Access to certain parts of the data must be
restricted
 Traditional file oriented approach
• Traditional file-oriented approach to
information processing has for each
application a separate file and its own set of
personal files.
• An organization needs
1. flow of information across these applications
2. Sharing of data (lacking in Traditional
approach)
Here programs become dependant on the files
and the files become dependent upon the
programs.
Some of the drawbacks are
1. Data redundancy
2. Program/data dependency
3. Lack of flexibility
4. To hold all the data which requires a storage device
5. There is a need of some methodology of identifying all data items
6. A special program to answer each query
7. Protection and security of data from authorized users
8. Inconsistent changes made by different users accessing the data
concurrently
9. Ensuring the data is restored to a consistent state if the system crashes
10. Operating system provides only a password mechanisms for security
 Storing data in DBMS
• User is concerned with some real world
enterprises
• An example :
• University Database – Entities are
students, faculty,, courses.
• Data in a university databases describes
these entities and relationships
• Data model uses logical concepts such as objects, their
properties and their interrelationships. Informally a data
model is a type of data abstraction that is used to
provide conceptual representation.

• A data model is a collection of high level data description

constructs that hide many low level storage details

• A DBMS allows a user to define the data to be stored in

terms of a data model

• Most of the database management systems today are

based on RELATIONSHIP MODEL
• A semantic data model is a more abstract
high level data model that makes its easier
for a user to have a detailed description of
the data in the enterprise
• It is typically built around a data model
with a few basic constructs such as
Relational model.
 People who work with databases
• There are a few for creation and use of
databases . They are

1. Database implementors- build DBMS software

2. End users – store and use data in a DBMS
3. Application programmers
4. Database administrators
 Database implementors
They work for vendors such as IBM or oracle

End Users
End users are the people whose jobs require access to the database for querying ,
updating and generating reports

1. data grows in complexity and volume & care needs for maintaining it.

2. end users use applications written by database application programmers and require less
technical knowledge about DBMS software

3. sophisticated users use DBMS by writing their queries

categories of end users
1. Casual end users
2. Sophisticated end users (scientists, engineers)
3. Stan alone end users
 Database application programmers
1. They develop packages that facilitate data
access for end users.
2. End users are not computer professionals
using the host language and software tools
that DBMS provide.
(tools – report writers, spread sheets and
statistical packages.)
 Database administrator
• DBMS is to have a control of data and programs
accessing that data.
• Person who has such a control is called the data
base administrator.
• He administers three levels
• Sets up the definition for conceptual view
• Specifies external view for various users and
application and is responsible for definition and
implementation of internal level including the
storage structure and access methods
• Changes to any of three levels in under
the control of DBA
• Mappings between – internal and
conceptual levels and conceptual level
and external level defined by DBA
• Ensuring to maintain integrity of the
database
• Granting permission to end users of the
database
 Summary of functions of DBA
• Schema definition

A schema is a logical database description and is drawn as a chart of

the types of data that are used.

It specifies the name of the entities and attributes and specifies the
relationship between them

It is a frame work into which value of the data item can be fitted.

Eg: an information display system gives you the arrival and departure
time at airports, railway system , the schema will remain the same
though the values displayed will change from time to time
• Storage structure and access method
definition
• Granting of authorization for data access
• Integrity constraint specification