Databases

Author: Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba

Lecture: 1
Content: Chapter 1
Course of
studies: Information Technology
Semester: WS 2024 / 2025
Chapter 1: Introduction
• Introduction:

 A database consists of a collection of data,

which is stored in a computer!

 Good beginning, because

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
the data is the core of a
database system,
but we need more

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Private adress book
 Aim is to store information from different
individual types, e.g. friends, colleagues,
business partners, etc.

 Store Characteristics like names,

adresses, phonenumbers, etc.

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 Collected information are stored in
an adress book for years

 Adress book becomes single point of truth

and is important – we want to keep it
permanently

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
First request to a database:

Data has to be stored persistent

(1) Latin:
persistere – remain, stand still

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
(2) Information technology:
A storage is persistent, when it is
independent of runtime of programs or
switch on- and off of the computer

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 Chapter 1.1: Private example

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba

Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Several possibilities how to store the
existing information

 Alphabetic
 by name
 by surname

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 by city (private or business)
 etc.

• The aim is to find entries fast and

simple

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 Chapter 1.1: Private example
Second request to a database:

There must be many different search terms

on the data pool.

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 Show me the entry of ‘Hans
Müller’
 Show me all contacts of
‘Neapel’
 Show me all contacts with an
„@arcor.de“ email address

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Result oriented communication between
user and database!
(1) Read the first entry of the databasee
(2) Check if wanted set is available
If not, read the next one

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(3)

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba

(1) Show me the address of Simon Cowell
(2) When is the birthday of Tahir Gül
(3) How much entries of Frankfurt are
deposited in the database
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 Chapter 1.1: Private example
Third request to a database:

We need selection or search functions for our

database, with which we get the requested
view by describing the requested results.

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Furthermore, we need so called
administration functions for our data.

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Administration functions

Yesterday Today
Buy address book and Create a dataset in our
make entries database (INSERT)
Read entries Read datasets (SELECT)

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Change entries Update datasets
(UPDATE)
Delete entries Delete datasets
(DELETE)

• Includes the four basic operations CRUD

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Use Case example “update ZIP code”:
• ZIP code switch in 1993 (from 4 to 5 digits)
 … old: 6057
 … new: 63128
private address book

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•

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba

→ complicated to update all data
→ great manual effort
• electronic address book
→ possible with only one command
→ updates are only possible if certain
rules are followed
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Redundancy:
• Available address database
Surame Name City

Redundancies
Müller Moritz Frankfurt
Schubert Matthias Frankfurt a.M.

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Goethe Johann Wolfgang Frankfurt/Main

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba

Valenti Gaetano Frankf.
Bohlen Dieter FFM
• All described search and administration
functions have no possibility to be
implemented in such case!

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Definition redundancy:

Redundancy means that individual data

exists several times

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Consequences of such redundancies
 Datasets are
… difficult to find and
… difficult to change

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Use Case example “data
inconsistence”:
Surname Name Mobile
Madmar Mohamed 015/085
Mohamed Madmar 015/085

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Update mobile # from 015/085 in 015/007

inconsistence
Surname Name Mobile

Data
Madmar Mohamed 0151 / 007
Mohamed Madmar 0151 / 0815

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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Definition Data inconsistency :

In the information technology,

inconsistency of data stands for
contradictions between the data
(source: Wikipedia)

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Problem can be prevented by avoiding
redundancies

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 Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Request to a database:
The database should be designed in that way,
so you can store the data without
redundancies.

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 Avoid redundancies by
 Inserting information with
existing ref. tables
 checking the values
 Simplifying of the entry due to
separation of the fields
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Chapter 1.2: Public example
• SETON Online Shop

 Database with
 Customer,
 Article and
 Campaign information

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 Customer can…
 search for article,
 order articles and/or
 insert the campaign code
…on the Homepage
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 article
customer
Chapter 1.2: Public example

campaign

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
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Chapter 1.2: Public example
• Request to a database:

A database has to be designed for

multi-user operation system.

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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
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Chapter 1.3: Summary
• What do we expect from a database
system?

 Persistent storage of data

 Different search possibilities
 Insert-, Update- and Delete operation

Frankfurt University – Databases

© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
 Avoid redundancies and Data
inconsistency
 Multi-User operation system

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End Chapter 1