Introduction

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• A database is a collection of related data with implicit meaning.

○ For example, consider the names, tele-phone numbers, and addresses of the people you
know.
• A database has the following implicit properties:
○ A database represents some aspect of the real world, sometimes called the miniworld or the
universe of discourse (UoD).
○ A database is a logically coherent collection of data with some inherent meaning. A random
assortment of data cannot correctly be referred to as a database.
○ A database is designed, built, and populated with data for a specific purpose. It has an
intended group of users and some preconceived applications in which these users are
interested.
• IRS data of 400 million people, Amazon.com

• A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of programs that enables users to create
and maintain a database.
○ Facilitates the processes of defining, constructing, manipulating, and sharing databases
among various users and applications.
○ Defining a database involves specifying the data types, structures, and constraints of the
data to be stored in the database.
○ Constructing the database is the process of storing the data on some storage medium that is
controlled by the DBMS.
○ Manipulating a database includes functions such as querying the database to retrieve
specific data, updating the database to reflect changes in the miniworld, and generating
reports from the data.
○ Sharing a database allows multiple users and programs to access the database
simultaneously.

• An application program accesses the database by sending queries or requests for data to the
DBMS.
• A query typically causes some data to be retrieved; a transaction may cause some data to be read
and some data to be written into the database.
• Functions provided by the DBMS
○ Protection includes system protection against hardware or software malfunction (or
crashes) and security protection against unauthorized or malicious access.
○ A typical large database may have a life cycle of many years, so the DBMS must be able to
maintain the database system by allowing the system to evolve as requirements change
over time.

• Database + DBMS software = A database system.

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Example
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• UNIVERSITY database for maintaining information concerning students, courses,

and grades in a university environment.

• The database is organized as five files, each of which stores data records of the
same type.
• Define the structure of the records of each file
○ Data element
○ Data type
• To construct the UNIVERSITY database, we store data to represent each student,
course, section, grade report, and prerequisite as a record in the appropriate file.
• Database manipulation involves querying and updating. Examples of queries are as
follows:
○ Retrieve the transcript—a list of all courses and grades—of ‘Smith’
○ List the names of students who took the section of the ‘Database’ course
offered in fall 2008 and their grades in that section
○ List the prerequisites of the ‘Database’ course
• Design of a new application for an existing database
○ Requirements specification and analysis
○ Conceptual design --> represented and manipulated using some
computerized tools so that it can be easily maintained, modified, and
transformed into a database implementation. (ER)
○ Logical design --> A data model implemented in a commercial DBMS.
(RDBMS)
Physical design --> Further specifications are provided for storing and

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○ Physical design --> Further specifications are provided for storing and
accessing the database.

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Characteristics of the Database Approach
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File System DBMS

Each user defines and implements the files needed for a specific software A single repository maintains data that is defined once and then accessed
application. by various users.
Ex. the grade reporting office, may keep files on students and their grades.
accounting office, may keep track of students’ fees and their payments.
This redundancy in defining and storing data results in wasted storage
space and in redundant efforts to maintain common up-to-date data.
Each application is free to name data elements independently. The names or labels of data are defined once, and used repeatedly by
queries, transactions, and applications.
File-processing software can access only specific databases. The database system contains not only the database itself but also a
complete definition or description of the database structure and
constraints.
Catalog of data --> Meta-data

DBMS software can access diverse databases by extracting the database

definitions from the catalog and using these definitions.

The structure of data files is embedded in the application programs, so any Program-data independence - DBMS access programs do not require such
changes to the structure of a file may require changing all programs that changes in most cases. The structure of data files is stored in the DBMS
access that file. catalog separately from the access programs.

Ex. Adding Birth_date of student whole program need to change For adding Birth_date only catalog need to change
A DBMS provides users with a conceptual representation of data that does
not include many of the details of how the data is stored or how the
operations are implemented.

Hiding from user, how the operation are carried out.

Support of Multiple Views of the Data

A database typically has many users, each of whom may require a different
perspective or view of the database.
A view may be a subset of the database or it may contain virtual data that
is derived from the database.

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 Sharing of Data and Multiuser Transaction Processing

The DBMS must include concurrency control software 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.

Ex. online transaction processing (OLTP) applications.

The isolation property ensures that each transaction appears to execute in

isolation from other transactions, even though hundreds of transactions
may be executing concurrently.

The atomicity property ensures that either all the database operations in a
transaction are executed or none are

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Actors on the Scene
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• Database Administrators (DBA)

○ Chief administrator to oversee and manage DB and DBMS resources.
○ The DBA is responsible for authorizing access to the database, coordinating and monitoring
its use, and acquiring software and hardware resources as needed.
○ The DBA is accountable for problems such as security breaches and poor system response
time.
• Database Designers
○ Database designers are responsible for identifying the data to be stored in the database and
for choosing appropriate structures to represent and store this data.
○ It is the responsibility of database designers to communicate with all prospective database
users in order to understand their requirements and to create a design that meets these
requirements.
• End Users
○ End users are the people whose jobs require access to the database for querying, updating,
and generating reports;
○ Casual end users occasionally access the database, but they may need different information
each time.
○ Naive or parametric end users make up a sizable portion of database end users. Their main
job function revolves around constantly querying and updating the database, using standard
types of queries and updates—called canned transactions. Ex. Bank tellers, Reservation
agents
○ Sophisticated end users include engineers, scientists, business analysts
○ Standalone users maintain personal databases by using ready-made program packages that
provide easy-to-use menu-based or graphics-based interfaces. Ex. tax package
• System analysts determine the requirements of end users, especially naive and parametric end
users, and develop specifications for standard canned transactions that meet these requirements.
• Application programmers (Software engineers) implement these specifications as programs; then
they test, debug, document, and maintain these canned transactions.

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Advantages of Using the DBMS Approach
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• Controlling Redundancy
○ Duplication of effort
○ Storage space is wasted
○ Data inconsistency
▪ Ex. ‘JAN-19-1988’ and ‘JAN-29-1988’.
○ Data normalization ---> storing data in only one place
▪ it ensures consistency and saves storage space
• Restricting Unauthorized Access
○ Ex. financial data is often considered confidential, and only authorized persons are allowed
to access such data.
• Providing Persistent Storage for Program Objects
○ A complex object in C++ can be stored permanently in an object-oriented DBMS.
○ Object-oriented database systems typically offer data structure compatibility with one or
more object-oriented programming languages ---> handles the problem of impedance
mismatch problem
• Providing Storage Structures and Search Techniques for Efficient Query Processing
○ Auxiliary files called indexes are used for speed up the searching purpose.
• Providing Backup and Recovery
○ If the computer system fails in the middle of a complex update transaction, the recovery
subsystem is responsible for making sure that the database is restored to the state it was in
before the transaction started executing.
○ Alternatively, the recovery subsystem could ensure that the transaction is resumed from the
point at which it was interrupted so that its full effect is recorded in the database
• Providing Multiple User Interfaces
○ These include query languages for casual users, programming language interfaces for
application programmers, forms and command codes for parametric users, and menu-
driven interfaces and natural language interfaces for standalone users.
• Representing Complex Relationships among Data
• Enforcing Integrity Constraints
○ The simplest type of integrity constraint involves specifying a data type for each data item.
• Permitting Inferencing and Actions Using Rules
○ A trigger is a form of a rule activated by updates to the table, which results in performing
some additional operations to some other tables, sending messages, and so on.
○ Stored procedures; they become a part of the overall database definition and are invoked
appropriately when certain conditions are met.

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When Not to Use a DBMS
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• The overhead costs of using a DBMS are due to the following:

○ High initial investment in hardware, software, and training
○ The generality that a DBMS provides for defining and processing data
○ Overhead for providing security, concurrency control, recovery, and integrity functions
• Therefore, it may be more desirable to use regular files under the following circumstances:
○ Simple, well-defined database applications that are not expected to change at all
○ Stringent, real-time requirements for some application programs that may not be met
because of DBMS overhead
○ Embedded systems with limited storage capacity, where a general-purpose DBMS would not
fit
○ No multiple-user access to data

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