Chapter (1)

Basic Concepts

Objectives
Introducing the concept of database system
Some examples
Advantages of using DBMS
Implication of the DB approach
When not to use DBMS

Introduction

New applications of database systems store data in a form other

than text and/or numbers:
Multimedia database (pictures)
(p )
Geographic information systems, GIS (maps, …)
Data Warehouses
On-line Analytical Processing (OLAP)
Real time and Active Database Technology

1
Introduction

Database and database technology have significant impact on all

areas where computers are used:

• Business (stock,
(stock merchandise distribution and control)
• Engineering (design criteria based on available data, previous
data)
• Medicine (patients’ database, diagnostic cases database)
• Law (clients’ record, finger prints, face recognition, ...)
• Education (students’ record, resource distribution, …)
• Library (books’
(books records, availability, and distribution, resource
sharing)

What is a database system?

Introduction

A database is a collection of related data.

Data are usuallyy the known facts that can be recorded and have
implicit meaning.

Is a phone book (electronic or non-electronic) an example of

database?
It has records
Records have implicit meaning
The records are related

How can we tell if some data is a database?

2
Introduction
A database has some properties:
• A database represents some aspects of the real world. This may be referred to
as the miniworld or the Universe of Discourse (UoD).
Changes in the miniworld are reflected in the database.
• A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some inherent
meaning.
A random collection of some data cannot correctly be referred to as
a database.
• A database is designed, built, and populated with data for a specific purpose.
The users of the database are a specific group of people and the
database has a specific application to these users.
In summary: A database has some source from which data are derived, some
degree of interaction with events in the real world, and an audience that is
actively interested in the contents of the database.
Now, can you see these properties in a phone book? 5

Introduction
A database can be of any size and of varying complexity.
• Boone’s phone database may have 10,000 phone numbers but this number is
much larger in a large city like Charlotte.
• A card catalog of a library may contain a million records.
•The IRS database is much much larger. Just to give you an idea of how much
disk space it may take to keep 100 million records. IRS keeps about 4 years of
returns. In average each return takes about 1000 bytes. Then the total amount
of disk space would be: 4*100,000,000* 1000 (bytes) = 400 Gb.
That brings the disk space issue up. However, a more important issue is the way
the data is organized in a database that makes the search, retrieval, insert, and
update faster.
Such organization is done through the Database Management System (DBMS).
What is a DBMS?

3
Introduction
A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of
programs that enables users to create and maintain a database.
The DBMS is hence a general-purpose software system that
facilitates the processes of
defining, constructing, and
manipulating databases
for various applications.

Defining a database involves specifying the data types,

structures, and constraints for the data to be stored in the
database.
Constructing the database is the process of storing the data
itself on some storage medium that is controlled by the DBMS.
Manipulating a database includes such functions as querying
the database to retrieve specific data, updating the database to
reflect changes in the miniworld, and generating reports from
the data. 7

4
To define this database, we must specify the structure of the records of
each file by specifying the different types of data elements to be stored
in each record.

An Example: Students’
Students Database
In the student database, what are the records that must be included?

Student’s Name
Student’s Number
Class (freshman, sophomore, …)
Major (Math, CS, …)
Courses
Course Name, Course Number, Credit Hours, …

We must also specify a data type for each data element within a record.

10

5
 Database manipulation involves querying and updating.

What is an example of a query in students’ database?

List courses, with their grades, taken by Smith.

Smith has student Number 17
Student Number 17 has taken section 112 and 119 and has
earned a B and a C for these two courses respectively.
Course 112 is MATH2410 and it was offered by Chang in
Fall 99.
Course 119 is CS1310 and it was offered by Anderson in
F ll 99.
Fall 99
An example for Update:
Change the class of Smith to Sophomore, or
Add for Smith the database course with grade A. The course was
offered in Fall 2001 by Tashakkori.
11

Characteristics of the Database Approach

Several characteristics distinguishes the database approach from the

traditional approach of programming with files.

In traditional file processing

processing, each user defines and implements
the files needed for a specific application as part of programming the
application.
Example: The Record and Registrar Office keeps the data
regarding students’ courses and their grades while the Accounting Office
keeps data regarding students’ fees and payments.

D you see a problem

Do bl here?
h ?

In the database approach, a single repository of data is maintained that is

defined once and then is accessed by various users.

12

6
Characteristics of the Database Approach

Self-Describing Nature of a Database

Insulation between Program and Data, and Data Abstraction
Support of Multiple Views of the Data
Sh i off D
Sharing Data
t and
dMMultiuser
lti Transaction
T ti Processing
P i

Self-Describing Nature of a Database

A database system contains not only the database itself but also a
complete definition or description of the database structure and
constraints.

The definition is stored in the system catalog.

Catalog contains information such as:
The structure of each file,
The type and storage format of each data item, and
Various constraints on the data.
13

Self-Describing Nature of a Database

The information stored in the catalog is called meta-data, and it
describes the structure of the primary database.

What is the use of the catalog?

The catalog is used by the DBMS software and also by database users
who need information about the database structure.
A DBMS refers to the catalog to find the structure of the files in a
specific database, i.e., the type and format of data that it will access.
Traditional file processing works with only one specific database. In
this case, the structure is declared in the application program.

14

7
Insulation between Programs and Data, and Data Abstraction
In traditional file processing, the structure of data files is embedded in the
access programs. Thus, any change to the structure of a file may require
changing all programs that access this file.
DBMS access programs do not require such changes in most cases cases. The
structure of data files is stored in the DBMS catalog separately from the
access programs. This property is called program-data independence.
Example- Internal Storage Format for a Student record shown below
Data Item Name Starting Position in Length in Characters
Record (bytes)
Name 1 30
StudentNumber 31 4
Class 35 4
Major 39 4
15

Insulation between Programs and Data, and Data Abstraction

There are times that a database is designed such that an operation on the
database is defined in two parts; one part is the operation name and the
other is data type of the arguments (or parameters).
p
The implementation of the operation
p is specified
p separately
p y and can be
changed without affecting the interface.
User application programs can operate on the data by invoking these
operations through their names and arguments, regardless, of how the
operations are implemented.

Example:
p Add x y which is the same as: x+yy
Select CourseName where Department =’CS’
This is known as program-operation independence.
The characteristics that allows program-data independence and
program-operation independence is called Data Abstraction.
16

8
Insulation between Programs and Data, and Data Abstraction – cont.
A DBMS provides users with a conceptual representation of data that
includes many of the details of how the data is stored or how the
operations are implemented.
A data
d t model
d l is
i a type
t off data
d t abstraction
b t ti thatth t is
i usedd to
t provide
id this
thi
conceptual representation.
A data model hides storage and implementation details that are not of
interest to most database users.
Support of Multiple Views of the Data
Every user of a database may have a different view of that database
database.
A view may be a subset of the database or it may contain virtual data
that is derived from the database files but is not explicitly stored.
Examples:
Create the student transcript view
17
Create the course prerequisite view

Figure 1.4 – Two views derived from the example database shown in Figure 1.2.
(a) The student transcript view
(b) The course prerequisite view

18

9
Sharing of Data and Multiuser Transaction Processing

A multiuser DBMS must allow multiple users to access the database

at the same time.
The database
Th d b must include
i l d concurrency controll software
f to ensure
that several users trying to update the same data do so in a controlled
manner so that the result of the updates is correct.
Think of reservation procedure for an airline flight
Applications that are used to ensure that each record is updated
(accessed) by only one user is called On-line Transaction Processing
(OLTP) applications.

19

Actors on the Scene

A small personal database is usually handled by one person. However, a

large database requires the attention of many people to design and
manipulate it. These people are called the Actors on the Scene by the
author.

These people are:

Database Administrators (DBA)
oversees and manages the resources
Primary resource: the database itself
Secondary resource: the DBMS and related software
authorizes the access to the database
coordinates and monitors its use
acquires the software and hardware resources as needed
ensure the security and performance of the database
Database Designers
End Users
20

10
 Database Designers
A database designer is responsible
• to identify the data to be stored in the database, and
• to choose appropriate structures to represent and store this data
• to communicate with all prospective database users in order to
understand their requirements
• to come up with a design that meets all the requirements.

End Users
End users are those people who are accessing the database for:
querying,
updating, and
generating
ti reports.
t
There are several categories of end users.
Casual end users
Naive or parametric end users
Sophisticated end users
Stand-alone users. 21

Quiz (1)
End Users
Use the textbook to complete
Casual end users: Occasionally access the database, but they may need
different info at different time.

Naive or parametric end users: A large group of end users.

Sophisticated end users: Includes engineers, scientists, business analysts,

Stand-alone users: Maintain personal databases.

22

11
Quiz (2)
Determine the End-user type in the following cases:

1) The department secretary uses a system to find out whether you have
enough hours to be a junior.
2)) You are hired byy a company
p y to develop p a ggraphical
p interface for an existing
g
database system that is designed in MySQL.
3) Your boss is a computer programmer/manager trying to find out more about
the tool you have developed in (2).
4) The traffic officer trying to determine your tickets on a computer.
5) Your parents or friends who are having a DBMS for their properties they
own in MS Access and maintain it themselves.

23

System Analyst and Application Programmers (Software Engineer)

A system analyst determines the requirements of end users, specially

naive and parametric users and develop specifications for canned
transactions that meet these requirements.

Application programmers
implement these specifications as programs,
test,
debug,
document, and
maintain
Th
These cannedd transactions.
t ti

24

12
Workers behind the Scene
In addition to those who design, use, and administrate a database, others
are associated with the design, development, and operation of the DBMS
software and system environment. These people are not interested in the
database itself. We call them the “workers behind the scene.”

They are:
DBMS system designers and implementers
Tool developers
Operators and maintenance personnel

Although the above workers are instructional in making the database

system available to end users,
users they typically do not use the database for
their own purposes.

25

Advantages of Using a DBMS

• Controlling Redundancy
• Restricting Unauthorized Access
• Providing Persistent Storage for Program Objects
and Data Structures
• Permitting Inferencing and Actions Using Rules
• Providing Multiple User Interface
• Representing Complex Relationships Among
Data
• Enforcing Integrity Constraints
• Providing Backup and Recovery

26

13
Figure 01.05 The redundant storage of data items. (a) Controlled
redundancy: Including StudentName and CourseNumber in the
GRADE_REPORT file. (b) Uncontrolled redundancy: A GRADE_REPORT
record that is inconsistent with the STUDENT records in Figure 01.02, because
the Name of student number 17 is Smith, not Brown.

27

Implications of the Database Approach

• Potential for Enforcing Standards
• Reduced Application Development Time
• Flexibility
• Availability of UP-to-Date Information
• Economics of Scale

When Not to Use a DBMS

Do not use a DBMS when the overhead cost due to:
• High initial investment in hardware, software, and training
• Generality that a DBMS provides for defining and processing data
• Overhead for providing security, concurrency control, recovery,
and integrity functions.
Use traditional file system if:
• The database and applications are simple, well defined, and not
expected to change.
• When the real-time requirement may not be met by a DBMS
• Multiple users may not need to access the data

28

14
Summary
We identified several characteristics that distinguish the database
approach from traditional file-processing applications:
• Existence of a catalog.
• Program
Program-data
data independence and program
program-operation
operation
independence.
• Data abstraction.
• Support of multiple user views.
• Sharing of data among multiple transactions.

We then discussed the main categories of database users, or the "actors on the
scene":
"
• Administrators.
• Designers.
• End users.
• System analysts and application programmers.

29

"workers behind the scene," in a database environment:

• DBMS system designers and implementers.
• Tool developers.
• Operators and maintenance personnel.

Th we presented
Then d a li
list off capabilities
bili i that
h should
h ld be
b provided
id d by
b the
h DBMS
software to the DBA, database designers, and users to help them design,
administer, and use a database:
• Controlling redundancy.
• Restricting unauthorized access.
• Providing persistent storage for program objects and data structures.
• Permitting inferencing and actions by using rules.
• Providing
ov d g multiple
u t p e use
user interfaces.
te aces.
• Representing complex relationships among data.
• Enforcing integrity constraints.
• Providing backup and recovery.

30

15
We listed some additional advantages of the database approach
over traditional file-processing systems:

• Potential for enforcing standards.

• Reduced application development time.
• Flexibility.
Flexibility
• Availability of up-to-date information to all users.
• Economies of scale.
Finally, we discussed the overhead costs of using a DBMS and
discussed some situations in which it may not be advantageous
to use a DBMS.

31

Have we met the Objectives?

[ ] Introducing the concept of database system

[ ] Some examples
[ ] Advantages of using DBMS
[ ] Implication of the DB approach
[ ] When not to use DBMS

32

16