Unit 1.

Database System Concepts

Lecturer -Er. Samiya Sayed
Kala Vidyamandir Institute of Technology
Introduction
● Data vs Information vs Knowledge
● What is Data?
○ The raw facts are called as data. The word “raw” indicates that they have not been processed.
○ For example 89 is the data.
● What is information?
○ The processed data is known as information.
○ Ex: Marks: 89; then it becomes information.
● What is Knowledge?
○ Knowledge refers to the practical use of information.
○ Knowledge necessarily involves a personal experience.
Data processing
● The process of converting the data (raw facts) into meaningful information is
called as data/information processing.
What is a database
● A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data,
typically stored electronically in a computer system.

(OR)

● A database is a collection of related data.

(OR)

● A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can be

easily accessed,managed and updated.
Purpose of database
● To store data
● To access the data whenever needed
● Persistent
● Consistency
File systems
● A file processing system is a collection of programs that store and manage
files in computer hard-disk.
● Long back, Information was stored using File Processing System.
● Here, flat files are files containing records having no structured relationship
among them.
● The Application programs written in C/C ++ like programming languages go
through the file system to access these flat. files as shown.
Database Management System (DBMS)
● A Database Management System (DBMS) is software designed to store,
retrieve, define, and manage data in a database
● Some DBMS examples include
○ Oracle RDBMS
○ IBM DB2
○ Microsoft SQL Server
○ MySQL
○ MS Access
○ SQLite
○ PostgreSQL
○ MongoDB
○ SQL Developer
○ SAP Sybase SE
Characteristics of database approach
● Store all kind of data
○ We should be able to store all kinds of data that exist in this real world. Since we need to
work with all kinds of data and requirements, the database should be strong enough to store
all kinds of data that are present around us.
● Information in the database should be related
○ We should be able to relate the entities/tables in the database by means of relation. i.e.; any
two tables should be related. Let us say, an employee works for a department. This implies
that an Employee is related to a particular department. We should be able to define such a
relationship between any two entities in the database. There should not be any table lying
without any mapping.
● Self describing nature
○ because it not only contains the database itself, but also metadata which defines and
describes the data and relationships between tables in the database.
● Data and applications should be isolated.
○ Because the database is a system that gives the platform to store the data, and the data is
the one that allows the database applications to work. Hence there should be a clear
differentiation between them.
● There should not be any duplication of data in the database.
○ Data should be stored in such a way that it should not be repeated in multiple tables. If
repeated, it would be an unnecessary waste of DB space, and maintaining such data
becomes chaos.
● Should support a strong query language to access/modify/delete data
○ Once the database is designed, this helps the user to retrieve and manipulate the data. If a
particular user wants to see any specific data, he can apply as many filtering conditions that
he wants and pull the data that he needs.
● The database should also support the ACID property.
○ i.e.; while performing any transactions like insert, update and delete, the database makes
sure that the real purpose of the data is not lost.
○ For example, if a student’s address is updated, then it should make sure that there is no
duplicate data is created nor there is any data mismatch for that student.
● Multiple users should be able to access the same database, without affecting
the other user.
○ i.e.; if teachers want to update a student’s marks in the Results table at the same time, then
they should be allowed to update the marks for their subjects, without modifying other subject
marks. A good database should support this feature.
● It supports multiple views to the user, depending on his role.
○ In a school database, Students will able to see only their reports and their access would be
read-only. At the same time, teachers will have access to all the students with modification
rights. But the database is the same. Hence a single database provides different views to
different users.
● The database should also provide security,
○ i.e.; when there are multiple users are accessing the database, each user will have their own
levels of rights to see the database. Some of them will be allowed to see the whole database,
and some will have only partial rights.
○ For example, an instructor who is teaching Physics will have access to see and update marks
of his subject. He will not have access to other subjects. But the HOD will have full access to
all the subjects.
File system vs Database system
File System Approach DBMS

1. File processing don't contain any self describing 1. Presence of Self-describing nature of a database
feature and neither posses metadata system and Metadata.

2. if any changes to the structure of a file may 2. The structure of data files is stored in the DBMS
require changing all programs that access the file. catalog separately from the access program. This is
called program-data independence

3. Doesn't support multiple views 3. Supports multiple views

4. It is not possible to share data and multi user 4. Sharing of data and multi-user transaction
transaction simultaneously among concurrent users processing i.e allowing a set of concurrent users to
retrieve from and to update the database.

5. The traditional file approach, each group 5. Controlling Redundancy is one of most important
independently keeps their own file. feature to use DBMS
Advantages of DBMS
● Controlling Redundancy of data in a centralized system of DBMS
● Integrity of data can be enforced in case of database system by enforcing
constraints
● Inconsistency of data can be avoided by reducing duplicacy or redundancy
● Data can be shared by multiple applications in centralized DBMS
● Standards can be enforced in DBMS is a central system by enforcing
standards easily at Company level, Department level, National level or
International level.
● Restricting unauthorized access among multiple users when sharing of data
takes place in a database.
● Providing Backup and Recovery facilities is provide by DBMS for recovering
from hardware or software failures.
Disadvantages of DBMS
● 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, DBMS software is also very costly,.
● Cost of Data Conversion
○ When a computer file-based system is replaced with database system, the data stored into
data file must be converted to database file. It is very difficult and costly method to convert
data of data file into database. You have to hire database system designers along with
application programmers. Alternatively, you have to take the services of some software house.
So a lot of money has to be paid for developing software.
● Cost of Staff Training
○ Most database management system are often complex systems so the training for users to
use the DBMS is required. Training is required at all levels, including programming,
application development, and database administration. The organization has to be paid a lot
of amount for the training of staff to run the DBMS.
● Appointing Technical Staff
○ The trained technical persons such as database administrator, application programmers, data
entry operations etc. are required to handle the DBMS. You have to pay handsome salaries to
these persons. Therefore, the system cost increases.
● Database Damage
○ In most of the organization, all data is integrated into a single database. If database is
damaged due to electric failure or database is corrupted on the storage media, the your
valuable data may be lost forever.
Components of database system
● Hardware,
● Software,
● People,
● Procedures,
● Hardware
○ Hardware is the one of the most important component of dbms system. It refers to all of the
system’s physical devices like computers (PCs, workstations, servers, and supercomputers),
storage devices, printers, network devices (hubs, switches, routers, fiber optics),and other
devices (automated teller machines, ID readers, and so on).
● Software
○ Operating system software:
■ It manages all hardware components and makes it possible for all other software to run
on the computers. Examples of operating system software include Microsoft Windows,
Linux, MacOS, UNIX, and MVS.
○ DBMS software:
■ It manages the database within the database system. Some examples of DBMS
software include Microsoft’s SQL Server, Oracle Corporation’s Oracle, Sun’s MySQL,
and IBM’s DB2.
○ Application programs and utility software:
■ These are used to access and manipulate data in the DBMS and to manage the
computer environment in which data access and manipulation take place. Application
programs are most commonly used to access data found within the database to
generate reports, tabulations, and other information to facilitate decision making.
● People (Users)
○ Each user type, described below, performs both unique and complementary functions.
■ System administrators oversee the database system’s general operations.
■ Database administrators, also known as DBAs, manage the DBMS and ensure that the
database is functioning properly.
■ Database designers design the database structure.
■ System analysts and programmers design and implement the application programs.
They design and create the data entry screens, reports, and procedures through which
end users access and manipulate the database’s data.
■ End users are the people who use the application programs to run the organization’s
daily operations. For example, salesclerks, supervisors, managers, and directors are all
classified as end users. High-level end users employ the information obtained from the
database to make tactical and strategic business decisions.
● Procedures
○ Procedures are the instructions and rules that govern the design and use of the database
system.
○ Procedures are another important component of the dbms system.
○ Procedures play an important role in a company because they enforce the standards by
which business is conducted within the organization and with customers.
○ Procedures are also used to ensure that there is an organized way to monitor and audit both
the data that enter the database and the information that is generated through the use of
those data.
Data Abstraction
● Hiding certain details of how the data are stored and maintained. A major
purpose of database system is to provide users with an “Abstract View” of
the data.
● In DBMS there are 3 levels of data abstraction.
● The goal of the abstraction in the DBMS is to separate the users request and
the physical storage of data in the database.
● 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.
● Logical Level:
○ This level of data Abstraction describes “What” data are to be stored in the database and
what relationships exist among those data.
○ Database Administrators use the logical level of abstraction.
● View Level:
○ It is the highest level of data Abstracts that describes only part of entire database.
○ Different users require different types of data elements from each database.
○ The system may provide many views for the some database.
Schema
● The overall design of the database is called the “Schema” .
Three level schema architecture
● Internal level
● Conceptual level
● External level
1.The internal level has an internal schema, which describes the physical storage
structure of the database. The internal schema uses a physical data model and
describes the complete details of data storage and access paths for the database.

2.The conceptual level has a conceptual schema, which describes the structure
of the whole database for a community of users. The conceptual schema hides
the details of physical storage structures and concentrates on describing entities,
data types, relationships, user operations, and constraints. A high-level data
model or an implementation data model can be used at this level.
3. The external or view level includes a number of external schemas or user
views. Each external schema describes the part of the database that a particular
user group is interested in and hides the rest of the database from that user
group. A high-level data model or an implementation data model can be used at
this level.
Data Independence
● A very important advantage of using DBMS is that it offers Data
Independence.
● The ability to modify a schema definition in one level without affecting a
schema definition in a higher level is called data independence.
● There are two kinds:
○ Physical Data Independence
○ Logical Data Independence