Database Concepts

A database is a collection of logically related information in an organised way so that

it can be easily accessed, managed and updated.
Some other operations can also be performed on database such as adding, updating
and deleting data.
Fundamentals of Database
1. Data These are raw and unorganised facts that need to be processed such as
digital representation of text, numbers, graphical images or sound.
e.g. A student’s test score is one piece of data.
2. Information When data is processed, organised, structured or presented in a
given context to make it useful or meaningful, it is called information.
e.g. The class’s average score is the information that can be concluded from the given
data.
Types of Database
1. Network Database In this type of database, data is represented as a collection of
records and relationships among data that are represented as links.
2. Hierarchical Database In this type of database, data is organised in the form of
tree with nodes. Nodes are connected via links.
Relational Database This database is also known as structured database in which
data is Stored in the form of tables. Where, columns define the type of data stored in
the table and rows define the information about the data.

Components of Database
A database consists of several different components. Each component listed, is called
an object.
Database components are described below
1. Tables These are the building blocks or relation (of any relational database model
where all the actual data is defined and entered.
Different types of operation are done on the tables such as storing, filtering, retrieving
and editing of data. Tables consist of cells at the intersection of records (rows) and
fields (columns), which are described below
(i) Field It is an area (within the record) reserved for a specific piece of data.
e.g. Customer number, Customer name, Street address, City, State, Phone number,
Current address, etc. Field of a table is also known as column or attribute.
(ii) Record It is the collection of data items of all the fields pertaining to one entity,
i.e. a person, company, transition, etc. Record of a table is also known as row or a
tuple and the number of records in a relation is called the cardinality of that relation.
2. Queries These are basically questions based on the data available in a database.
A query consists of specifications indicating which fields, records and summaries a
user wants to fetch from the database.
Queries allow you to extract data based on the criteria that you define.
3. Forms Although you can enter and modify data in datasheet view of tables but
you neither control the user’s action very well nor you can do much to facilitate the
data-entry process. To overcome this problem, forms are introduced. Like tables,
forms can be used to view and edit your data. However, forms are typically used to
view the data in an underlying table, one record at a time.
e.g. A user can create a data entry form that looks exactly like a paper form. People
generally prefer to enter data into a well-designed form, rather than a table.
4. Reports When you want to print those records which are fetched from your
database, design a report. Access even has a wizard to help produce mailing labels.
Database Management System (DBMS)
A DBMS is a collection of inter-related data and a set of programs to retrieve data
from the database.
It is an organised collection of data viewed as a whole, instead of a group of separate
unrelated files.
The primary goal of DBMS is to provide an environment that is both convenient and
efficient for user to store and retrieve database information.
e.g. MySQL, Oracle, FoxPro, dBASE, SyBase, MS-Access. The purpose of database
management system is to bridge the gap between information and data.
The basic processes that are supported by DBMS are as follows
(i) Specification of data types, structures and constraints to be considered in an
application.
(ii) Storing the data.
(iii) Manipulation of the database.
(iv) Querying the database to retrieve desired information.
(v) Updating the content of the database.
Architecture of DBMS
The architecture of DBMS is divided into three levels are as follows
1. Internal or Physical Level It is the lowest level of data abstraction that deals with
the physical representation of the database on the computer. It is also known as
physical level.
It defines how the data is actually stored and organised in the storage medium.
2. Conceptual or logical Level It is the overall view of the database and includes all
the information that is going to be represented in the database.
It describes what type of data is stored in the database, the relationship among the
data without effecting to the physical level. It is also known as logical level.
3. External or User Interface Level This is the highest level of data abstraction
which describes the interaction between the user and the system.
It permits the users to access data in a way that is customised according to their
needs, so that the same data can be seen by different users in different ways, at the
same time. It is also known as view level.

Advantages of DBMS
1. Reduction in Data Redundancy The duplication of data refers to data
redundancy. DBMS cannot make separate copies of the same data. All the data is
kept at a place and different applications refer to data from centrally controlled
system.
2. Better Interaction with Users In DBMS, the availability of uptodate information
improves the data to be access or respond as per user requests.
3. Improvement in Data Security DBMS can allow the means of access to the
database through the authorised channels.
To ensure security, DBMS provides security tools, i.e. username and password.
4. Maintenance of Data Integrity Data integrity ensures that the data of database
is accurate. In DBMS, data is centralised and used by many users at a time, it is
essential to enforce integrity controls.
5. Backup and Recovery The DBMS provides backup and recovery sub-system that
is responsible to recover data from hardware and software failures.

Disadvantages of DBMS
1. Cost of Hardware and Software A processor with high speed of data processing
and memory of large size is required to run the DBMS software. It means that you
have to upgrade the hardware used for file based system. Similarly, database
software is also very costly.
2. Complexity The provision of the functionality that is expected from a good DBMS
makes the DBMS an extremely complex piece of software. Failure to understand the
system can lead to bad design decisions, which can have serious consequences for
an organisation.
3. Cost of Staff Training Mostly DBMSs are often complex systems, so the training
for user to use the database is required. The organisation has to pay a lot of amount
for the training of staff to run the DBMS
4. Appointing Technical Staff The trained technical persons such as database
administrator, application programmers, etc., are required to handle the database.
You have to pay a lot of amount to these persons. Therefore, the system cost
increases.
5. Database Failure In most of the organisations, all data is integrated into a single
database. If database is corrupted due to power failure or it is corrupted on the
storage media, then our valuable data may be lost or whole system stop.

Applications of DBMS
1. Banking For customer information, accounts, loans and other banking
transactions.
2. Reservation For reservation and schedule information.
3. Universities For student information, course registration, grades, etc.
4. Credit Card Transaction For purchase of credit cards and generation of monthly
statements.
5. Tele-communication For keeping records of calls made, generating monthly bill,
etc.
6. Finance For storing information about holdings, sales and purchase of financial
statements.
7. Sales For customer, product and purchase information.

Relational Database
In relational database, data is stored in different tables with relationships to each
other. In the case of relational database, a Relational Database Management System
(RDBMS) performs this task.
An important feature of this database system is that a single database can be spread
across several tables, e.g. Base, Oracle, DB2, SyBase, Informix, etc.

Terms Related to Relational Database

1. Relation It is a table with columns and rows which represent the data items and
relationships among them. It has three important properties, a name, cardinality and
a degree.
These properties help us to further define and describe relations
(i) Name The first property of a relation is its name, which is represented by the tide
or the entity identifier.
(ii) Cardinality The second property of a relation is its cardinality, which refers to
the number of tuples (rows) in a relation.
(iii) Degree The third property of a relation is its degree, which refers to the number
of attributes (columns) in each tuple.
2. Domain It is a collection of all possible values from which the values for a given
column or an attribute is drawn. A domain is said to be atomic, if elements are
considered to be indivisible units.
3. Attributes The heading columns of a table are known as attributes.
4. Tuples The rows in a relation are also known as tuples. Each row or tuple has a
set of permitted values for each attribute.

Key
A key is defined as the column or set of columns in a table that is used to identify
either row of data in a table or establish relationship with another table.
If a table has Id, name and address as the column names, then each one is known
as the key for that table. The keys are also used to uniquely identify each record in
the database table.

Types of Key
1. Primary Key It is a set of one or more attributes that can uniquely identify tuples
(rows) within the relation. The primary key should be chosen in such a way, i.e. its
value must not be changed.
There should not be duplicacy in the record of primary key. Primary key can be
atomic or composite. The field chosen as primary key, cannot accept null value.
2. Candidate Key The set of all attributes which can uniquely identify each tuple
(row) of a relation, is known as candidate key. Each table may have one or more
candidate keys and one of them will become the primary key. The candidate key of a
relation is always a minimal key.
3. Alternate Key From the set of candidate keys after selecting one of the keys as
primary key, all other remaining keys are known as alternate keys.
4. Foreign Key It is a non-key attribute whose value is derived from the primary key
of the same or some another table. The relationship between two tables is established
with the help of foreign key.
A table may have multiple foreign keys and each foreign key can have a different
referenced table.
5. Unique Key Same as primary key it can be blank
6. Super key More than ode dependency

Database Languages
1. Data Definition Language (DDL) It is used to define structure of your tables and
other objects in database. In DBMS, it is used to specify a database schema as a set
of definitions.
2. Data Manipulation Language (DML) It provides various commands used to access
and manipulate data in existing database. This manipulation involves inserting data
into database tables, retrieving existing data, deleting data from existing tables and
modifying existing data.
3. Data Control Language (DCL) These commands are used to assign security levels
in database which involves multiple user setups. They are used to grant defined role
and access privileges to the users.

Entity-Relationship Model (E-R Model)

It represents the entities contained in the database. It is a diagrammatically
representation of entities and relationship between them. It is also known as E-R
Diagram.

Some terms related to E-R Model are described below

Entity
It is an object that has its existence in the real world. It includes all those things
about which the data are collected. “Entities are represented in rectangles”, e.g.
Customer buys items, it means Customer and Items are entities.

Attributes
It describes the characteristics or properties of entity. In tables, attributes are
represented by columns. Attributes are drawn in elliptical shapes, e.g. Items entity
may contain Itemld and Price.

Entity Set
It is a set of entities of the same type that shares same properties or attributes, e.g.
Students are an entity set of all student entities in the database.
Entity set is of two types which are as follows
1. Strong Entity Set It has a primary key or can be easily distinguishable each
attribute.
2. Weak Entity Set It does not posses sufficient attributes to form a primary key.

Relationship
It is an association among several entities. A relationship describes how two or more
entities are related to each other. It is represented by diamond shape.
Relationship can be divided into three parts
(i) One-to-One This relationship tells us that a single record in Table A is related to
a single record in Table B and vice-versa.
(ii) One-to-Many This entails one data in Table A to have links to multiple data in
Table B. However, a single data in Table B, will have link to a single data in Table A.
(iii) Many-to-Many Each data in Table A is linked to all the data in Table B and vice-
versa.
(iv) many to one → many data link to one data

Tit-Bits
• Dr. EF Codd represented 12 rules for Relational Database Management System
(RDBMS) in 1970.
• Schema is a logical structure of the database.
• Instances are the actual data contained in the database at a particular point of
time.
• Data Duplication wastes the space, but also promotes a more serious problem
called data inconsistency.
• Data Mining is the process of sorting through large data sets to identify patterns
and establish relationships to solve problems through data analysis.

Questions Bank
1. A ……….. is a collection of data that is stored electronically as a series of records
in a table.
(1) Spreadsheet (2) Presentation
(3) Database (4) Web page
2. A collection of interrelated records is called a
 (1) utility file (2) management information system
(3) database (4) spreadsheet
(5) datasheet
3. Which of the following is the organised collection of large amount of interrelated
data stored in a meaningful way used for manipulation and updation?
(1) Database (2) File
(3) Folder (4) Data-mining
(5) None of these
4. Items such as names and addresses are considered as
(1) input (2) data
(3) output (4) records
5. Which type of database, organised the data in the form of tree with nodes?
(1) Network Database
(2) Hierarchical Database
(3) Relational Database
(4) Multiple Database
6. The database stores information in
(1) rows and columns (2) blocks
(3) tracks and sectors (4) All of the above
7. To locate a data item for storage is
(1) field (2) feed
(3) database (4) fetch
8. Devices that could be used to input data into a database are
(1) keyboard, fax roller ball
(2) mouse, keyboard, monitor
(3) mouse, keyboard, touch screen
(4) All of the above
9. In a relational database, a data structure that organises the information about
a single topic into rows and columns, is
(1) block (2) record
(3) tuple (4) table
10. The smallest unit of information about a record in a database is called a
(1) cell (2) field
(3) record (4) query
11 ……….. are distinct items that do not have much meaning to you in a given
context.
(1) Fields (2) Data
(3) Queries (4) Properties
(5) None of these
12. A collection of related files is called a
(1) character (2) field
(3) database (4) record
(5) None of these
13. Which of the following contains information . about a single ‘entity’ in the
database like a person, place, event or thing?
(1) Query (2) Form
(3) Record (4) Table
14. DBMS is comprised of tables that made up of rows called and columns called

(1) fields, records (2) records, fields

(3) address, fields (4) ranges, sheet
15. What is a stored question about information in a database?
(1) Query (2) Sort
(3) Report (4) Record
16. A program that generally has more user-friendly interface than a DBMS is called
a
(1) front end (2) repository
(3) back end (4) form
17. Which of the following object(s) is/are contained in database?
(1) Table (2) Query
(3) Form (4) All of these
18. Which of the following places the common data elements in order from smallest
to largest?
(1) Character, File, Record, Field, Database
(2) Character, Record, Field, File, Database
(3) Character, Field, Record, File, Database
(4) Bit, Byte, Character, Record, Field, File, Database
19. What is the overall term for creating, editing, formatting, storing, retrieving a
text document?
(1) Word processing (2) Spreadsheet design
(3) Web design (4) Database management
20. The database administrator’s function in an organisation is
(1) to be responsible for the technical aspects of managing the information
contained in organisational databases
(2) to be responsible for the executive level aspects of decision regarding the
information management
(3) to show the relationship among entity classes in a data warehouse
(4) to define which data mining tools must be used to extract data
21. The code that relational database management systems use to perform their
database task is referred to as
(1) QBE (2) SQL
(3) OLAP (4) Sequel Server
22. DBMS helps to achieve
(1) data independency (2) centralised control of data
(3) selection of data (4) Both (1) and (2)
23. Which out of the following is not a DBMS software?
(1) dBASE (2) FoxPro
(3) Oracle (4) Database 2000
24. In which, the database can be restored up to the last consistent state after the
system failure?
(1) Backup (2) Recovery
(3) Redundancy (4) Security
25. …………… provides total solutions to reduce data redundancy, inconsistency,
dependency and unauthorised access of data.
 (1) DBMS (2) Tables
(3) Database (4) Protection password
(5) Centralisation of data
26. Periodically adding, changing and deleting file records is called ………. file.
(1) updating (2) upgrading
(3) restructuring (4) renewing
27. Architecture of database management can be viewed as
(1) two levels (2) four levels
(3) three levels (4) one level
28. A collection of conceptual tools for describing data, relationships, semantics
and constraints is referred to as
(1) E-R model (2) database
(3) data model (4) DBMS
29. ……….. is one reason for problems of data integrity.
(1) Data availability constraints (2) Data inconsistency
(3) Security constraints (4) Unauthorised access of data
(5) Data redundancy
30. ……..... means that the data contained in a database is accurate and reliable.
(1) Data redundancy (2) Data integrity
(3) Data reliability (4) Data consistency
31. Which of the following contains data descriptions and defines the name, data
type and length of each field in the database?
(1) Data dictionary (2) Data table
(3) Data record (4) Data filed
32. An advantage of the database management approach is
(1) data is dependent on programs
(2) data redundancy increases
(3) data is integrated and can be accessed by multiple programs
(4) all of the above
33. Which of the following is the drawback of DBMS?
(1) Improvement in data
(2) Backup and recovery
(3) Complexity
(4) Maintenance of data integrity
34. In which of the following, database is used?
(1) Banking (2) Finance
(3) Sales (4) All of these
35. A database that contains tables linked by common fields is called a
(1) centralised database (2) flat file database
(3) relational database (4) All of the above
36. Oracle is a(n)
(1) hardware (2) high level language
(3) operating system (4) system software
(5) RDBMS
37. The cardinality property of a relation, refers to the
(1) number of database (2) number of columns
(3) number of rows (4) number of tables
38. Rows of a relation are called
(1) relation (2) tuples
(3) data structure (4) entities
39. A set of possible data values is called
(1) attribute (2) degree
(3) tuple (4) domain
40. The purpose of the primary key in a database is to
(1) unlock the database
(2) provide a map of the data
(3) uniquely identify a record
(4) establish constraints on database operations
41. In case of entity integrity, the primary key maybe
(1) not null (2) null
(3) Both (1) and (2) (4) any value
42. In files, there is a key associated with each record which is used to differentiate
among different (2)records.
square For every file, there is atleast one set of keys that is
unique. Such a(4)key is called
(1) unique key triangle (2) prime attribute
(3) index key (2) square (4) primary key
43. Which of the (4) following types of table constraints will prevent the entry of
duplicate rows? triangle
(1) Primary key (2) Unique
(3) Null (4) Foreign key
44. The particular field of a record that uniquely identifies each record is called the
(1) key field (2) primary field
(3) master field (4) order field
(5) None of these
45. ……… is a primary key of one file that also appears in another file.
(1) Physical key (2) Primary key
(3) Foreign key (4) Logical key
(5) None of these
46. ……….. is an invalid type of database key.
(1) Structured primary key (2) Atomic primary key
(3) Primary key (4) Composite primary key
(5) None of the above
47. Key to represent relationship between tables is called
(1) primary key (2) secondary key
(3) foreign key (4) composite key
(5) None of these
48. Which database language is used to access data in existing database?
(1) DDL (2) DML
(3) DCL (4) None of these
49. An E-R diagram is a graphic method of presenting
(1) primary keys and their relationships
(2) primary keys and their relationships to instances
(3) entity classes and their relationships
(4) entity classes and their relationships to primary keys
 (5) None of the above
50. In an E-R diagram, an entity set is represented by
(1) rectangle (3) ellipse
(2) square (4) triangle
51. In an E-R diagram, attributes are represented by
(1) rectangle (2) square
(3) ellipse (4) circle
52. In E-R diagram, relationship type is represented by
(1) ellipse (2) dashed ellipse
(3) rectangle (4) diamond
(5) None of these
53. An entity set that does not have sufficient attributes to form a primary key, is
a
(1) strong entity set (2) weak entity set
(3) simple entity set (4) primary entity set
(5) none of these
54. Relationship can be divided into
(1) One-to-one
(2) Many-to-one
(3) One-to-many
(4) All of the above
55. Dr. E F Codd represented …………. rules that a database must obey if it has to
be considered truly relational.
(1) 10 (2) 8
(3) 12 (4) 6
(5) 5
56. A logical schema
(1) is the entire database
(2) is a standard way of organising information into accessable part
(3) describes how data is actually stored on disk
(4) All of the above
57. Data duplication wastes the space, but also promotes a more serious problem
called
(1) isolated (2) data inconsistency
(3) other than those given as options (4) program dependency
(5) separated data
58. When data changes in multiple lists and all lists are not updated. This causes
(1) Data redundancy (2) Information overload
(3) Duplicate data (4) Data inconsistency
 Answer Key
1. (3) 2. (3) 3. (1) 4. (2) 5. (2) 6. (1) 7. (4) 8. (3) 9. (4) 10.
(2)
11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.
(1) (4) (3) (2) (1) (4) (4) (3) (4) (1)
21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30.
(2) (4) (4) (2) (4) (1) (3) (3) (1) (2)
31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.
(1) (3) (3) (4) (3) (5) (3) (2) (4) (3)
41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50.
(1) (4) (1) (2) (3) (1) (3) (2) (3) (1)
51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58.
(3) (4) (2) (4) (3) (2) (2) (4)