Overview of Database Approach

There are different characteristics of the database approach from the much older approach of
programming with files. In a traditional file processing system, each user defines and implements its
own modifications to the files needed for a selected software application as a part of programming
the appliance. In the database approach, one repository maintains data which is defined once then
accessed by various users in that database. In a file system, it will be independently like an
application that is free to name elements. In comparison, during a database, the names or labels of
knowledge are defined once and used repeatedly by queries, transactions, and applications.

Characteristics of Database Approach

Some of the most important characteristics of the database approach to the file processing approach
are the following as follows.

Approach-1 : Self-Describing Nature of a Database System

One of the most fundamental characteristics of the database approach is that the database system
contains not only the database itself but also an entire definition or description of the database
structure and constraints also known as metadata of the database.

This definition is stored within the DBMS catalog, which contains information like the structure of
every file, the sort and storage format of every data item, and various constraints/rules on the
information.

The knowledge stored within the catalog is named meta-data, and it describes the structure of the
first database The catalog is employed by the DBMS software and also by database users such as
database administrators who required to know the information about the database structure.

A general-purpose DBMS software package is not written for a selected database application.
Therefore, it must ask the catalog to understand the structure of the files during a specific database,
like the sort and format of knowledge it will access.

The DBMS software must work equally well with any number of database applications, For example,
a university database, a banking database, or a corporation database as long as because the
database definition is stored within the catalog In traditional file processing, data definition is usually
a part of the files. File processing software can access only specific databases, Database
Management software can access various databases by extracting the database definitions or
schemas from the catalog and using these definitions.

Approach-2 : Insulation between Programs and Data, and Data Abstraction

In a traditional file processing system, the structure of database knowledge files is embedded within
the application programs, so any changes to the structure of a file may require changing all programs
that access that file.
Against this, DBMS access programs don’t require such changes in most cases, so independence is
achieved between them.

The structure of knowledge files is stored within the DBMS catalog separately from the programs
that access them. We call this property program-data independence.

The characteristic that allows program-data independence and program-operation independence is

A DBMS provides users with a conceptual representation of knowledge that doesn’t include much of
the small print of how the information is stored or how the operations are implemented internally.
Informally, a knowledge model may be a sort of data abstraction that won’t provide this conceptual
representation.

The information model uses logical concepts, like objects, their properties, and their relationships
between them, which will be easier for many users to know than memory concepts or storage
concepts. Hence, the information model hides storage and implementation details that are not of
interest to most database users, so unnecessary complications are hidden from them.

Approach-3 : Support for Multiple Views of the Data

A database sometimes has many users, each of whom may require a special perspective or view of
the database.

A view could also be a subset of the database, or it’s going to contain virtual data that is derived from
the database files but isn’t explicitly stored.

Some users might not get to remember whether the information they ask for is stored or derived.

A multi-user DBMS whose users have a spread of distinct applications must provide facilities for
outlining multiple views. This provides many benefits for large databases such as the Aadhaar
database.

Approach-4 : Sharing of knowledge and Multi-user Transaction Processing

A multi-user DBMS, as its name implies, must allow multiple users to access the database at an
equivalent time or concurrently.

This is often essential if data for multiple applications is to be integrated and maintained during a
single database such as the latest feature of WhatsApp integration with Facebook.

The DBMS must implement concurrency control in the software to make sure that several users
trying to update equivalent data do so in a controlled manner in order that the results of the updates
are correct.

For instance, when several reservation agents attempt to assign a seat on an airline flight, the DBMS
should make sure that each seat is often accessed by just one user agent at a single time for an
assignment to a passenger.
These sorts of applications are generally called online transaction processing (OLTP) applications. A
fundamental role of multi-user DBMS software is to make sure that concurrent transactions operate
correctly and efficiently with no inconsistency.

The concept of a transaction has become central to several database applications. A transaction is an
executing program or process that has one or more database accesses, like reading or updating of
database records or inserting new records.

The isolation property ensures that every transaction appears to execute in isolation from other
transactions, many transactions could also be executed concurrently without affecting each other.

The atomicity property ensures that either all the database operations during a transaction are
executed or none are, these all ACID properties we know.

Types of Keys used in Normalization

There are several types of keys used in normalization in database management systems (DBMS).
These are explained as follows.

Super Key

A super key is a set of one or more attributes that uniquely identifies each record in a table. A super
key may contain more attributes than necessary to uniquely identify each record.

Candidate Key

A candidate key is a minimal super key that can uniquely identify each record in a table. In other
words, it is a super key that does not contain any unnecessary attributes.

Primary Key

A primary key is a candidate key that has been selected to uniquely identify each record in a table. It
is used to enforce entity integrity, and is typically denoted by an underline or a key symbol.

Alternate Key

An alternate key is a candidate key that is not selected to be the primary key. It is used to enforce
uniqueness, and may be used as a reference key in another table.

Foreign Key
A foreign key is a key that is used to link two tables together. It is a column (or set of columns) in one
table that refers to the primary key of another table.

By using these different types of keys, DBMS designers can ensure that data is organized properly,
free of redundancy, and can be retrieved efficiently. Normalization helps to reduce data anomalies
and inconsistencies, and ensures that databases are scalable and easy to maintain.

CLASSIFICATION OF DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Centralized Database System: The DBMS And Database Are Stored At A Single Site That Is Used By
Several Other Systems Too

Distributed Database System: The Actual Database And The DBMS Software Are Distributed From
Various Sites That Are Connected By A Computer Network

Heterogeneous Distributed Database System: Different Sites Might Use Different DBMS Software,
But There Is Additional Common Software To Support Data Exchange Between These Sites

Homogeneous Distributed Database Systems: Use The Same DBMS Software At Multiple Sites

Multiuser Database System: A Database Management System Which Supports Multiple Users
Concurrently

Object-Oriented Data Model: A Database Management System In Which Information Is Represented

Single-User Database System: A Database Management System Which Supports One User At A Time

Traditional Models: Data Models That Preceded The Relational Model