SNJB’s Shri H.H.J.B.

Polytechnic, Chandwad

Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Chapter 1 Marks 12
Introduction to Database System

1.1 An introduction to database:

Data is distinct pieces of information, usually formatted in a special way. Data can exist in a
variety of forms -- as numbers or text on pieces of paper, as bits and bytes stored in electronic
memory, or as facts stored in a person's mind.

Strictly speaking, data is the plural of datum, a single piece of information. In practice,
however, people use data as both the singular and plural form of the word.

(2) The term data is often used to distinguish binary machine-readable information from
textual human-readable information. For example, some applications make a distinction
between data files (files that contain binary data) and text files (files that contain ASCII
data).

(3) In database management systems, data files are the files that store the database
information, whereas other files, such as index files and data dictionaries, store
administrative information, known as metadata.

A database management system (DBMS) is a collection of interrelated data and a set of

programs to access those data. The collection of data, usually referred to as the database,
contains information relevant to an enterprise.
The primary goal of a DBMS is to provide a way to store and retrieve database
information that is both convenient and efficient.
Database systems are designed to manage large bodies of information. Management of
data involves both defining structures for storage of information and providing mechanisms
for the manipulation of information. In addition, the database system must ensure the safety
of the information stored, despite system crashes or attempts at unauthorized access, If data
are to be shared among several users, the system most avoid possible anomalous results.

1.1.2 Disadvantages of file processing system:

Before the advent of DBMS, organization typically stored information using file
processing system. Permanent records are stored in various files and different application
programs are written to extract records from, and to add records to, the appropriate files.
Keeping organizational information in a file-processing system has a number of major
disadvantages:

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

1. Data redundancy and inconsistency.
Since different programmers create the files and application programs over a long
period, the various files are likely to have different structures and the programs may be
written in several programming languages. Moreover, the same information may be
duplicated in several places (files). For example, the address and telephone number of a
particular customer may appear in a file that consists of savings-account records and in a file
that consists of checking-account records. This redundancy leads to higher storage and access
cost. In addition, it may lead to data inconsistency; that is, the various copies of the same data
may no longer agree. For example, a changed customer address may be reflected in
savings-account records but not elsewhere in the system.

2. Difficulty in accessing data.

Suppose that one of the bank officers needs to find out the names of all customers who
live within a particular postal-code area. The officer asks the data-processing department to
generate such a list. Because the designers of the original system did not anticipate this
request, there is no application program on hand to meet it. There is, however, an application
program to generate the list of all customers. The bank officer has now two choices: either
obtain the list of all customers and extract the needed information manually or ask a system
programmer to write the necessary application program. Both alternatives are obviously
unsatisfactory, suppose that such a program is written, and that, several days later, the same
officer needs to trim that list to include only those customers who have an account balance of
Rs. 10,000 or more. As expected, a program to generate such a list does not exist. Again, the
officer has the preceding two options, neither of which is satisfactory.
The point here is that conventional file-processing environments do not allow needed data
to be retrieved in a convenient and efficient manner. More responsive data-retrieval systems
are required for general use.

3. Data isolation.
Because data are scattered in various files, and files may be in different formats, writing
new application programs to retrieve the appropriate data is difficult.

4. Integrity problems.
The data values stored in the database must satisfy certain types of consistency
constraints. For example, the balance of certain types of bank accounts may never fall below a
prescribed amount (say, Rs 2500). Developers enforce these constraints in the system by
adding appropriate code in the various application programs. However, when new constraints
are added, it is difficult to change the programs to enforce them. The problem is compounded
when constraints involve several data items from different files.

5. Atomicity problems.
A computer system, like any other mechanical or electrical device, is subject to failure.
In many applications, it is crucial that, if a failure occurs, the data be restored to the consistent
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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

state that existed prior to the failure. Consider a program to transfer Rs 50 from account A to
account B. If a system failure occurs during the execution of the program, it is possible that the
Rs 50 was removed from account A but was not credited to account B, resulting in an
inconsistent database state. Clearly, it is essential to database consistency that either both the
credit and debit occur, or that neither occur. That is, the funds transfer must be atomic-it must
happen in its entirety or not at all. It is difficult to ensure atomicity in a conventional
file-processing system.

6. Concurrent- access anomalies.

For the sake of overall performance of the System and faster response, many systems
allow multiple users to update the data simultaneously. Indeed, today, the largest Internet
retailers may have millions of accesses per day to their data by shoppers. In such an
environment, interaction of concurrent updates is possible and may result in inconsistent data.
Consider bank account A, containing Rs 500. If two customers withdraw funds (say Rs 50 and
Rs 100, respectively) from account A at about the same time, the result of the concurrent
executions may leave the account in an incorrect (or inconsistent) state. Suppose that the
programs executing on behalf of each withdrawal read the old balance, reduce that value by
the amount being withdrawn, and write the result back. If the two programs run concurrently,
they may both read the value Rs 500, and write back Rs 450 and Rs 400, respectively.
Depending on which one writes the value last, the account may contain either Rs 450 or Rs
400, rather than the correct value of $350. To guard against this possibility, the system must
maintain some form of supervision. But supervision is difficult to provide because data may be
accessed by many different application programs that have not been coordinated previously.

7. Security problems.
Not every user of the database system should be able to access all the data. For
example, in a banking system, payroll personnel need to see only that part of the database
that has information about the various bank employees. They do not need access to
information about customer accounts. But, since application programs are added to the
file-processing system in an ad hoc manner, enforcing such security constraints is difficult.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

1.1.3 Advantages of DBMS
The facilities offered by DBMS vary a great deal, depending on their level of sophistication. In
general, however, a good DBMS should provide the following advantages over a conventional
system:

1. Independence of Data and Program: This is a prime advantage of a database. Both the
database and the user program can be altered independently of each other thus saving time
and money which would be required to retain consistency.

2. Data Share Ability and Non- redundancy of Data: The ideal situation is to enable
applications to share an integrated database containing all the data needed by the
applications and thus eliminate as much as possible the need to store data redundantly.

3. Integrity: With many different users sharing various portions of the database, it is
impossible for each user to be responsible for the consistency of the values in the database
and for maintaining the relationships of the user data items to all other data item, some of
which may be unknown or even prohibited for the user to access.

4. Centralized Control: With central control of the database, the DBA can ensure that
standards are followed in the representation of data.

5. Security: Having control over the database the DBA can ensure that access to the database
is through proper channels and can define the access rights of any user to any data items or
defined subset of the database. The security system must prevent corruption of the existing
data either accidentally or maliciously.

6. Performance and Efficiency : In view of the size of databases and of demanding database
accessing requirements, good performance and efficiency are major requirements, Knowing
the overall requirements of the organization, as opposed to the requirements of any individual
user, the DBA can structure the database system to provide an overall service that is 'best for
the enterprise'.

1.1.4 Database- System Applications

Databases are widely used. Here are some representative applications:

•Banking: For customer information, accounts, loans, and banking transactions.

• Airlines: For reservations and schedule information. Airlines were among the first to use
databases in a geographically distributed manner.

•Universities: For student information, course registrations, and grades.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

•Credit card transactions: For purchases on credit cards and generation of monthly
statements.

•Telecommunication: For keeping records of calls made, generating monthly bills, maintaining
balances on prepaid calling cards, and storing information about the communication networks.

• Finance: For storing information about holdings, sales, and purchases of financial instruments
such as stocks and bonds; also for storing real- time market data to enable on-line trading by
customers and automated trading by the firm.

• Sales: For customer, product, and purchase information.

• On-line retailers: For sales data noted above plus on-line order tracking, generation of
recommendation lists, and maintenance of on-line product evaluations.

• Manufacturing: For management of the supply chain and for tracking production of items in
factories, inventories of items in warehouses and stores, and orders for items.

•Human resources: For information about employees, salaries, payroll taxes, benefits, and for
generation of paychecks.

1.1.5 View of Data

A database system is a collection of interrelated data and a set of programs that allow
users to access and modify these data. A major purpose of a database system is to provide
users with an abstract view of the data. That is, the system hides certain details of how the
data are stored and maintained.

1.1.5.1 Data Abstraction

For the system to be usable, it must retrieve data efficiently. The need for efficiency has
led designers to use complex data structures to represent data in the database. Since many
database-system users are not computer trained, developers hide the complexity from users
through several levels of abstraction, to simplify users' interactions with the system:

1. Physical level. The lowest level of abstraction describes how the data are actually
stored. The physical level describes complex low-level data structures in detail.

2. Logical level. The next- higher level of abstraction describes what data are stored in the
database, and what relationships exist among those data. The logical level thus
describes the entire database in terms of a small number of relatively simple structures.
Although implementation of the simple structures at the logical level may involve
complex physical- level structures, the user of the logical level does not need to be

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

aware of this complexity. Database administrators, who must decide what information
to keep in the database, use the logical level of abstraction.

Figure 1.1 The three levels of data abstraction.

3. View level. The highest level of abstraction describes only part of the entire database.
Even though the logical level uses simpler structures, complexity remains because of the
variety of information stored in a large database. Many users of the database system do
not need all this information; instead, they need to access only a part of the database.
The view level of abstraction exists to simplify their interaction with the system. The
system may provide many views for the same database.
Figure 1.1 shows the relationship among the three levels of abstraction.

1.1.5.2 Instances and Schemas

Databases change over time as information is inserted and deleted. The collection of
information stored in the database at a particular moment is called an instance of the
database. The overall design of the database is called the database schema. Schemas are
changed infrequently, if at all.
The concept of database schemas and instances can be understood by analogy to a
program written in a programming language. A database schema corresponds to the variable
declarations (along with associated type definitions) in a program. Each variable has a
particular value at a given instant. The values of the variables in a program at a point in time
correspond to an instance of a database schema.
Database systems have several schemas, partitioned according to the levels of
abstraction. The physical schema describes the database design at the physical level, while the
logical schema describes the database design at the logical level. A database may also have

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

several schemas at the view level, sometimes called sub schemas that describe different views
of the database.

1.1.5.2 Data Independence

The ability to modify a schema definition in one level without affecting a schema
definition in the next higher level is called data independence. There are two levels of data
independence:
1. Physical data independence is the ability to modify the physical schema without causing
application programs to be rewritten. Modifications at the physical level are occasionally
necessary to improve performance.
2. Logical data independence is the ability to modify the logical schema without causing
application programs to be rewritten. Modifications at the logical level are necessary
whenever the logical structure of the database is altered.
Logical data independence is more difficult to achieve than is physical data
independence, since application programs are heavily dependent on the logical structure of
the data that they access.

1.1.6 The 12 Rules (Codd’s law)

Codd's twelve rules are a set of thirteen rules (numbered zero to twelve) proposed by Edgar F.
Codd, a pioneer of the relational model for databases, designed to define what is required from
a database management system in order for it to be considered relational, i.e., a relational
database management system (RDBMS).

Rule 0: The Foundation rule:

A relational database management system must manage its stored data using only its
relational capabilities. The system must qualify as relational, as a database, and as a
management system. For a system to qualify as a relational database management system
(RDBMS), that system must use its relational facilities (exclusively) to manage the
database.

Rule 1: The information rule:

All information in a relational database (including table and column names) is represented
in only one way, namely as a value in a table.

Rule 2: The guaranteed access rule:

All data must be accessible. This rule is essentially a restatement of the fundamental
requirement for primary keys. It says that every individual scalar value in the database
must be logically addressable by specifying the name of the containing table, the name of
the containing column and the primary key value of the containing row.
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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Rule 3: Systematic treatment of null values:

The DBMS must allow each field to remain null (or empty). Specifically, it must support a
representation of "missing information and inapplicable information" that is systematic,
distinct from all regular values (for example, "distinct from zero or any other number", in
the case of numeric values), and independent of data type. It is also implied that such
representations must be manipulated by the DBMS in a systematic way.

Rule 4: Active online catalog based on the relational model:

The system must support an online, inline, relational catalog that is accessible to
authorized users by means of their regular query language. That is, users must be able to
access the database's structure (catalog) using the same query language that they use to
access the database's data.

Rule 5: The comprehensive data sublanguage rule:

The system must support at least one relational language that

1. Has a linear syntax

2. Can be used both interactively and within application programs,
3. Supports data definition operations (including view definitions), data manipulation
operations (update as well as retrieval), security and integrity constraints, and
transaction management operations (begin, commit, and rollback).

Rule 6: The view updating rule:

All views that are theoretically updatable must be updatable by the system.

Rule 7: High-level insert, update, and delete:

The system must support set-at-a-time insert, update, and delete operators. This means
that data can be retrieved from a relational database in sets constructed of data from
multiple rows and/or multiple tables. This rule states that insert, update, and delete
operations should be supported for any retrievable set rather than just for a single row in
a single table.

Rule 8: Physical data independence:

Changes to the physical level (how the data is stored, whether in arrays or linked lists etc.)
must not require a change to an application based on the structure.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Rule 9: Logical data independence:

Changes to the logical level (tables, columns, rows, and so on) must not require a change
to an application based on the structure. Logical data independence is more difficult to
achieve than physical data independence.

Rule 10: Integrity independence:

Integrity constraints must be specified separately from application programs and stored in
the catalog. It must be possible to change such constraints as and when appropriate
without unnecessarily affecting existing applications.

Rule 11: Distribution independence:

The distribution of portions of the database to various locations should be invisible to

users of the database. Existing applications should continue to operate successfully:

1. when a distributed version of the DBMS is first introduced; and

2. when existing distributed data are redistributed around the system.

Rule 12: The nonsubversion rule:

If the system provides a low-level (record-at-a-time) interface, then that interface cannot
be used to subvert the system, for example, bypassing a relational security or integrity
constraint.

1.1.7 Overall System Structure

A database system is partitioned into modules that deal with each of the responsibilities
of the overall system. Some of the functions of the database system may be provided by the
computer's operating system. In most cases, the computer's operating system provides only
the most basic services, and the database system must build on that base. Thus, the design of
a database system must include consideration of the interface between the database system
and the operating system.
The functional components of a database system can be broadly divided into query
processor components and storage manager components. The query processor components
include
1. DML compiler, which translates DML statements in a query language into low-level
instructions that the query evaluation engine understands. In addition, the DML compiler
attempts to transform a user's request into an equivalent but more efficient form, thus finding
a good strategy for executing the query,

2. Embedded DML pre-compiler, which converts DML statements, embedded in an application

program to normal procedure calls in the host language. The pre-compiler must interact with
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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

the DML compiler to generate the appropriate code.
3. DDL interpreter, which interprets DDL statements and records them in a set of tables
containing metadata.

4. Query evaluation engine, which executes low-level instructions generated by the DML
compiler.

The storage manager components provide the interface between the low level data
stored in the database and the application programs and queries submitted to the system. The
storage manager components include

1. Authorization and integrity manager, which tests for the satisfaction of integrity constraints
and checks the authority of users to access data.

2. Transaction manager, which ensures that the database remains in a consistent (correct)
state despite system failures, and that concurrent transaction executions proceed without
conflicting.
3. File manager, which manages the allocation of space on disk storage and the data
structures used to represent information stored on disk.

4. Buffer manager, which is responsible for fetching data from disk storage into main memory,
and deciding what data to cache in memory.
In addition, several data structures are required as part of the physical system
implementation:
1. Data files, which store the database itself.
2. Data dictionary, which stores metadata about the structure of the database. The data
dictionary is used heavily. Therefore, great emphasis should be placed on developing a good
design and efficient implementation of the dictionary.
3. Indices which provide fast access to data items that hold particular values.
4. Statistical data, which store statistical information about the data in the database. This
information is used by the query processor to select efficient ways to execute a query.

Following figure 1.2 shows these components and the connections among them.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Fig 1.2 system Structure

1.2.1 Client- Server Systems

As personal computers have become faster, more powerful, and cheaper, there has been
a shift away from the centralized system architecture. Terminals connected to centralized
systems are now being supplanted by personal computers. Correspondingly, user-interface
functionality that used to be handled directly by centralized systems is increasingly being
handled by the personal computers. As a result, centralized systems today act as server systems
that satisfy requests by client systems. The general structure of a client-server system is in Figure
1.3.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Figure 1.3 General structure of a client-server System.

Database functionality, can be broadly divided into two parts- the front end and back-end
as shown in Figure 1.4. The back-end manages access structures, query evaluation and
optimization, concurrency control, and recovery. The front- end of a database system consists of
tools such as forms, report writers, and graphical user-interface facilities. The interface between
the front-end and the back-end is through SQL, or through an application program. Server
systems can be broadly categorized as transaction servers and data servers.

1. Transaction -server systems, also called query- server -systems, provide an interface to which
clients can send requests to perform an action, in response to which they execute the action and
send back results to the client. Users may specify requests in SQL, or through an application
program interface, using a remote- procedure- call mechanism.

2. Data- server systems allow clients to interact with the servers by making requests to read or
update data, in units such as files or pages. For example, files servers provide a file-system
interface where clients can create, update, read and delete files. Data servers for database
systems offer much more functionality; they support units of data- such as pages, tuples or
objects- that are smaller than a file. They provide indexing facilities for data, and provide
transaction facilities so that the data are never left in an inconsistent state if a client machine or
process fails.

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Figure 1.4 Front-end and back-end functionality.

1.2.2 Database Architecture

The architecture of a database system is greatly influenced by the underlying computer
system on which the database system runs. Database systems can be centralized, or
client- server, where one server machine executes work on behalf of multiple client machines.
Database systems can also be designed to exploit parallel computer architectures. Distributed
databases span multiple geographically separated machines.
Most users of a database system today are not present at the site of the database system,
but connect to it through a network. We can therefore differentiate between client machines, on
which remote database users work, and server machines, on which the database system runs.
Database applications are usually partitioned into two or three parts, as in Figure 1.5. In a
two-tier architecture, the application is partitioned into a component that resides at the client
machine, which invokes database system functionality at the server machine through query
language statements. Application program interface standards like ODBC and JDBC are used for
interaction between the client and the server.
In contrast, in a three-tier architecture, the client machine acts as merely a front end and
does not contain any direct database calls. Instead, the client end communicates with an
application server, usually through a forms interface. The application server in turn
communicates with a database system to access data. The business logic of the application,
which says what actions to carry out under what conditions, is embedded in the application
server, instead of being distributed across multiple clients. Three-tier applications are more
appropriate for large applications, and for applications that run on the World Wide Web

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Fig 1.5 Two-tier and three-tier architectures.

1.3 Data Models

Underlying the structure of a database is the data model: a collection of conceptual
tools for describing data, data relationships, data semantics, and consistency constraints. The
various data models that have been proposed fall into three different groups: object based
logical models, record based logical models, and physical models.

1.3.1 Object Based Logical Models

Object based logical models are used in describing data at the logical and view levels.
They are characterized by the fact that they provide fairly flexible structuring capabilities and
allow data constraints to be specified explicitly. There are many different models, and more
are likely to come. Several of the more widely known ones are

• The entity relationship model

• The object oriented model
• The semantic data model
• The functional data model

1.3.2 Record- Based Logical Models

Record- based logical models are used in describing data at the logical and view levels, In
contrast to object- based data models, they are used both to specify the overall logical
structure of the database and to provide a higher- level description of the implementation.
The three most widely accepted record- based data models are the relational, network,
and hierarchical models

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

1.3.2.1 Relational Model
The relational model uses a collection of tables to represent both data and the
relationships among those data. Each table has multiple columns, and each column has a
unique name. Figure 1.6 presents a sample relational database comprising of two tables: one
shows bank customers, and the other shows the accounts that belong to those customers.

Cust_no Name City acct_no

101 Manoj Chandwad A-101
215 Deepak Nashik A-215
101 Manoj Chandwad A-305
401 Vinod Nashik A-201
402 Mahesh Mumbai A-305
402 Mahesh Mumbai A-207

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Ch.1 Introduction to Database System.

Acct_no Balance
A-101 500
A-215 700
A-305 400
A-201 900
A-207 750

Figure : 1.6 A sample relational database.

It shows, for example, that customer Manoj lives in Chandwad and has two a accounts:
A-101 with a balance of Rs 500 and A-305 with a balance of Rs 400. Note that customers
Manoj and Mahesh share account number A-305, which has a balance of Rs 400 (they may
share).

1.3.2.2 Network Model

Data in the network model are represented by collections of records and relationships
among data are represented by links, which can be viewed as pointers. The records in the
database are organized as collections of arbitrary graphs. Figure 1.7 presents a sample
network database using the same information as in Figure 1.6

101 Manoj Chandwad A-101 500

215 Deepak Nashik A-215 700

401 Vinod Nashik A-305 400

402 Mahesh Mumbai A-201 900

A-207 750

Figure: 1.7 A sample network database.

1.3.2.3 Hierarchical Model

The hierarchical model is similar to the network model in the sense that data and
relationships among data are represented by records and links, respectively. It differs from the
network model in that the records are organized as collections of trees rather than arbitrary
graphs. Figure 1.8 presents a sample hierarchical database with the same information as in
Figure 1.6

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101 Manoj Chandwad

215 Deepak Nashik

401 Vinod Nashik

A-101 500 402 Mahesh Mumbai

A-201 900
A-305 400

A-305 400 A-207 750

A-215 700

Figure 1.8 A sample hierarchical database.

1.3.3 Physical Data Models

Physical data models are used to describe data at the lowest level. In contrast to logical
data models, there are few physical data models in use. Two of the widely known ones are the
unifying model and the frame-memory model.

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