Note: Please read and understand the content of this paper, summarize the note and mark

the summary in your notebook’s explanation section.

 This is individual task

Determination of data types

A data type is a category that defines the type of values that a column can hold. In a database, a
data type is a specification that determines the type of data that can be stored in a column of a
table. This ensures that only the appropriate data type can be stored in the column.

In MySQL there are three main data types: string, numeric, and date and time.

String Data Types

Data type Description

CHAR(size) A FIXED length string (can contain letters, numbers, and special characters).
The size parameter specifies the column length in characters - can be from 0
to 255. Default is 1

VARCHAR(size) A VARIABLE length string (can contain letters, numbers, and special
characters). The size parameter specifies the maximum string length in
characters - can be from 0 to 65535

BINARY(size) Equal to CHAR(), but stores binary byte strings. The size parameter specifies
the column length in bytes. Default is 1

VARBINARY(size) Equal to VARCHAR(), but stores binary byte strings. The size parameter
specifies the maximum column length in bytes.

TINYBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Max length: 255 bytes

TINYTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of 255 characters

TEXT(size) Holds a string with a maximum length of 65,535 bytes

BLOB(size) For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to 65,535 bytes of data

MEDIUMTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of 16,777,215 characters

MEDIUMBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to 16,777,215 bytes of data

LONGTEXT Holds a string with a maximum length of 4,294,967,295 characters

 LONGBLOB For BLOBs (Binary Large Objects). Holds up to 4,294,967,295 bytes of data

ENUM(val1, val2, A string object that can have only one value, chosen from a list of possible
val3, ...) values. You can list up to 65535 values in an ENUM list. If a value is
inserted that is not in the list, a blank value will be inserted. The values are
sorted in the order you enter them

SET(val1, val2, A string object that can have 0 or more values, chosen from a list of possible
val3, ...) values. You can list up to 64 values in a SET list

A data type is a category that defines the type of values that a column can hold. In a database, a
data type is a specification that determines the type of data that can be stored in a column of a
table. This ensures that only the appropriate data type can be stored in the column.

In MySQL there are three main data types: string, numeric, and date and time.

Numeric Data Types

Data type Description

BIT(size) A bit-value type. The number of bits per value is specified in size.
The size parameter can hold a value from 1 to 64. The default value
for size is 1.

TINYINT(size) A very small integer. Signed range is from -128 to 127. Unsigned range is
from 0 to 255. The size parameter specifies the maximum display width
(which is 255)

BOOL Zero is considered as false, nonzero values are considered as true.

BOOLEAN Equal to BOOL

SMALLINT(size) A small integer. Signed range is from -32768 to 32767. Unsigned range is
from 0 to 65535. The size parameter specifies the maximum display width
(which is 255)

MEDIUMINT(size) A medium integer. Signed range is from -8388608 to 8388607. Unsigned

range is from 0 to 16777215. The size parameter specifies the maximum
display width (which is 255)

INT(size) A medium integer. Signed range is from -2147483648 to 2147483647.

Unsigned range is from 0 to 4294967295. The size parameter specifies the
maximum display width (which is 255)

INTEGER(size) Equal to INT(size)

 BIGINT(size) A large integer. Signed range is from -9223372036854775808 to
9223372036854775807. Unsigned range is from 0 to
18446744073709551615. The size parameter specifies the maximum display
width (which is 255)

FLOAT(size, d) A floating point number. The total number of digits is specified in size. The
number of digits after the decimal point is specified in the d parameter. This
syntax is deprecated in MySQL 8.0.17, and it will be removed in future
MySQL versions

FLOAT(p) A floating point number. MySQL uses the p value to determine whether to
use FLOAT or DOUBLE for the resulting data type. If p is from 0 to 24, the
data type becomes FLOAT(). If p is from 25 to 53, the data type becomes
DOUBLE()

DOUBLE(size, d) A normal-size floating point number. The total number of digits is specified
in size. The number of digits after the decimal point is specified in
the d parameter

DOUBLE
PRECISION(size, d)

DECIMAL(size, d) An exact fixed-point number. The total number of digits is specified in size.
The number of digits after the decimal point is specified in the d parameter.
The maximum number for size is 65. The maximum number for d is 30. The
default value for size is 10. The default value for d is 0.

DEC(size, d) Equal to DECIMAL(size,d)

Note: All the numeric data types may have an extra option: UNSIGNED or ZEROFILL. If you
add the UNSIGNED option, MySQL disallows negative values for the column. If you add the
ZEROFILL option, MySQL automatically also adds the UNSIGNED attribute to the column.

Date and Time Data Types

Data type Description

DATE A date. Format: YYYY-MM-DD. The supported range is from '1000-01-01'

to '9999-12-31'

DATETIME(fsp) A date and time combination. Format: YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss. The

supported range is from '1000-01-01 00:00:00' to '9999-12-31 23:59:59'.
Adding DEFAULT and ON UPDATE in the column definition to get
automatic initialization and updating to the current date and time
 TIMESTAMP(fsp) A timestamp. TIMESTAMP values are stored as the number of seconds
since the Unix epoch ('1970-01-01 00:00:00' UTC). Format: YYYY-MM-
DD hh:mm:ss. The supported range is from '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to
'2038-01-09 03:14:07' UTC. Automatic initialization and updating to the
current date and time can be specified using DEFAULT
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP and ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
in the column definition

TIME(fsp) A time. Format: hh:mm:ss. The supported range is from '-838:59:59' to

'838:59:59'

YEAR A year in four-digit format. Values allowed in four-digit format: 1901 to

2155, and 0000.
MySQL 8.0 does not support year in two-digit format.

Description of data dictionary

A. Definition

Data Dictionary consists of database metadata. It has records about objects in the database.

What Data Dictionary consists of?

Data Dictionary consists of the following information −

 Name of the tables in the database

 Constraints of a table i.e. keys, relationships, etc.
 Columns of the tables that related to each other
 Owner of the table
 Last accessed information of the object
 Last updated information of the object

Key Elements of a Data Dictionary in RDMS:

1. Tables:
o Name: A unique identifier for the table.
o Description: A brief explanation of the table's purpose.
o Columns: A list of all columns (fields) in the table.
2. Columns:
o Name: A unique identifier for the column.
o Data Type: The type of data the column can hold (e.g., integer, string, date).
o Length: The maximum or fixed length of the data.
o Default Value: The value assigned to the column if no value is provided.
o Constraints: Rules or restrictions applied to the column (e.g., NOT NULL,
UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY).
3. Indexes:
o Name: A unique identifier for the index.
o Columns: The columns included in the index.
o Type: The type of index (e.g., clustered, non-clustered).
4. Relationships:
o Primary Keys: Unique identifiers for rows within a table.
o Foreign Keys: References to primary keys in other tables, establishing
relationships.
o Referential Integrity Constraints: Rules that ensure data consistency between
related tables.
5. Views:
o Name: A unique identifier for the view.
o Definition: The SQL statement that defines the view.
6. Stored Procedures:
o Name: A unique identifier for the stored procedure.
o Definition: The SQL code that defines the procedure.
7. Triggers:
o Name: A unique identifier for the trigger.
o Event: The event that triggers the procedure (e.g., INSERT, UPDATE,
DELETE).
o Definition: The SQL code that defines the trigger.
8. Comments:
o Description: Additional notes or explanations about the database object.
Types of dictionaries

In general, DBMS data dictionaries are of two types. These dictionaries are as follows −

Active data dictionary

 It is managed automatically by the data management software.
 It is always consistent with the current structure of the database.

Passive data dictionary

 It is mainly used for documentation purposes.
 It is managed by the user of the system and is modified manually by the user.

During a computerization project (most for wide projects), the team in charge of the software
design is not the same with the one in charge of programming.
To enable the team of programmers to be in phase with the LMD produced by the designing
team, it’s essential to make a data dictionary which will help them to easily implement the
database.

The data dictionary takes the fields of LMD and describes and organizes them into table.
These are the examples of data dictionary.
Example1: personal details of a student

<StudentPersonalDetails>
Student_ID Student_Name Student_Address Student_City

The following is the data dictionary for the above fields:

 Example 2:
FIELDS DESCRIPTION TYPE SIZE CONSTRAINT
ClientID Client’s Identifier Varchar 5 Not Null
CliSurname Client Surname Varchar 30 Not Null
CliFirstName Client First Name Varchar 40
ComNum Command Number Varchar 10 Not Null
ComDate Command Date Date 10 = Day Date [Date()]
BillID Bill’s Identifier Varchar 10 Not Null
CarID Car’s Identifier Varchar 15 Not Null
CarPrice Car Price Number 10 Not Null