College of Engineering and Technology

Department of computer Science

Fundamentals of Database System

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Outlines

 Overview of Database/Introduction
 Benefits of DB systems
 Users and actors of DB system
 DB development life cycle
 Workers behind the Scene

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 Overview
 Databases and database systems are an essential
component of life in modern society:
 most of us encounter several activities every day that
involve some interaction with a database. E.g
 if we go to the bank to deposit or withdraw funds
 if we make a hotel or airline reservation,
 if we access a computerized library catalog to search
for a bibliographic item,
 if we purchase something online—such as a book, toy,
or computer—chances are that our activities will involve
someone or some computer program accessing a
database.

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 Introduction … cont’d
What is database?
 An organized collection of logically related data.
 A shared collection of interrelated data designed to
meet the varied information needs of an organization.
 A shared collection  can be used simultaneously by
many departments and users.
 Logically related  comprise the important objects and
the relationships between these objects.
 IT play a critical role in almost all areas where
computers are used, in business, Ecommerce,
engineering, medicine, genetics, law, education, and
library science.
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 Database Basics
A database has the following implicit properties:
 A database represents some aspect of the real world,
sometimes called the subsets of real world or the
Universe of Discourse (UoD).
 Changes to the mini world are reflected in the database.
 DB is a logically coherent collection of data with some
inherent meaning.
 The description "a logically coherent collection of data with
some inherent meaning" highlights two critical aspects of a
database: logical coherence and inherent meaning.

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 Database Basics
 Logically Coherent Collection of Data:

Logical Organization: Data in a database is structured

in a logical manner, often using a schema.
 This organization allows for relationships and
interconnections between pieces of data to be clearly
defined and managed.
 E.g tables, rows, and columns in a relational database
represent entities, attributes, and records logically.

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 Database Basics
Consistency: The data follows rules of integrity,
ensuring that it is reliable and meaningful.
E.g a customer ID in one table might link to customer
details in another table.
Accessibility: Logical organization facilitates efficient
data retrieval and manipulation through structured
queries (SQL).
 A random assortment or collection of data cannot
correctly be referred to as a database.
DB is designed, built, and populated with data for a
specific purpose.

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 Database Basics
Meta Data: What do we mean by meta data?
 Descriptions of the properties or characteristics of
the data, including data types, field sizes,
allowable values.
 Data that describes data
 Data about data
 Description of fields
 Display and format instructions
 Structure of files and tables
 Security and access rules
 Triggers and operational rules

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Database Basics …. cont’d
Metadata
Data Item Value
Name Type Length Min Max Description

Course Char 7 Three digit

depart-ment
reference and 4
digit
Section Integer 3 001 900 Section number

Semester Char 10 Semester and

year
Name Char 30 Instructor name

Rank Char 10 Instructor rank

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 Data management approaches
 Data management: keeping your data records. The three
approaches to do it:
 Manual Approach
 File-Based Approach
 Database Approach

Manual File Handling Systems

 The primitive and traditional way of information handling
which work well if the number of items to be stored is small.
 Includes intensive human labor
 Events and objects are written on files (paper)
 Each of the files information is labeled and stored in
cabinets
 The cabinets could be kept in safe places for security

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Manual File Handling
Systems ..cont’d
Limitations of Manual File Handling
 Problem of Data Organization
 Problem of Efficiency
 Prone to error
 Difficult to update, retrieve, integrate
 difficult to compile the information
 Significant amount of duplication of data
 Cross referencing is difficult

Two computerized approaches evolved to overcome

the limitations of the above approaches
 File based approach  decentralised
 Database approach centralised
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 File based Approach
 File based systems were an early attempt to
computerize the manual filing system.
 It is a decentralized computerized data handling
method i.e. to develop a program or a number of
programs for each different application.
 Since every application defines and manages its
own data, the system is subjected to serious data
duplication problem.

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 Limitations of File-Based systems
 Data Redundancy (Duplication of data)
 Same data is held by different programs
 Staff salary(staffno, name, sex, salary)
 Staff(staffno, name, position, sex, DoB, salary)
 Wasted space (Uncontrolled duplication of data)
 Separation and isolation of data
 Each program maintains its own set of data.
 Users of one program may be unaware of
potentially useful data held by other programs.
 Limited data sharing- No centralized control of data
 Data Inconsistency , confusion and Data dependence:
File structure is defined in the program code and is
dependent on the application programming language.
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 Limitations of File-Based systems ..
Cont’d
 Incompatible file formats - Lack of data sharing and
availability)
 Programs are written in different languages, and so
cannot easily access each others files.

E.g. Personnel write in C, Payroll writes in COBOL

 Poor Security and administration
 Different Anomalies  Insertion Anomalies
 Modification Anomalies  Deletion Anomalies

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 Database Approach
 Here, a single repository of data is maintained.
 Basic Database terminologies;
 Enterprise: an organization like library, bank, university.
 Entity: Person, place, thing, or event about which we wish
to keep data
 Attribute (Field): Property of an entity. E.g. Name, age,
sex..
 Record: A logically connected set of one or more Attributes
that describe a person, place or thing. (Logically related
data)
 File: A collection of related records. E.g. Student file
 Relationship: an association among entities (entity
records)
 Query: question asked for database
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 Benefits of Database systems
 Data can be shared: Two/ more users can access and
use.
 Improved data accessibility: By using structured query
languages, the users can easily access data without
programming experience.
 Redundancy can be reduced: Isolated data is
integrated in database.
 Quality data can be maintained: the different integrity
constraints in the database approach will maintain the
quality leading to better decision making.
 Inconsistency can be avoided: controlled data
redundancy will avoid inconsistency of the data in DB.
 Transaction support can be provided: basic demands of any
transaction support systems are implanted in a full scale DBMS.
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Benefits of Database systems … cont’d
 Integrity can be maintained: Data at different applications
will be integrated together with additional constraints.
 Security measures can be enforced: The shared data can be
secured by data security mechanisms.
 Improved decision support: the database will provide
information useful for decision making.
 Standards can be enforced: ways of using different data
by users.
 Less Labor: data maintenance will not demand much
resource.
 Centralized information control: Since relevant data in the
organization will be stored at one repository, it can be
controlled and managed at the central level.
 Data Independence - Applications insulated from how data is
structured and stored.
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Limitations and risk of database
approach

 Introduction of new professional and specialized

personnel
 High cost to be incurred to develop and maintain
the system
 Complex backup and recovery services from the
users perspective
 High impact on the system when failure occurs to
the central system

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 Users and Actors of Database
System
 Actors on the scene: The people whose jobs involve
the day-to-day use of a large database.
 Workers behind the scene: Those who work to
maintain the database system environment, but
who are not actively interested in the database
itself.
Actors on the Scene
 Database Administrators
 Database Designers
 End Users
 System Analysts and Application Programmers
(Software Engineers)
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 Database Administrators
 In a database environment, the primary resource is
the database itself and the secondary resource is the
DBMS and related software.
 Administering these resources is the responsibility of
the Database Administrator (DBA).
 The DBA is responsible for authorizing access to the
database, for coordinating and monitoring its use,
and for acquiring software and hardware resources as
needed.
 The DBA is accountable for problems such as breach
of security or poor system response time.

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Database Designer
 Are responsible for identifying the data to be stored in
the database
 and for choosing appropriate structures to represent
and store this data.
 It is the responsibility of database designers to
communicate with all prospective database users, in
order to understand their requirements and to come
up with a design that meets these requirements.
 In many cases, the designers are on the staff of the
DBA and may be assigned other staff responsibilities
after the database design is completed.
 The final database design must be capable of
supporting the requirements of all user groups.
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 End Users
 End users are the people whose jobs require access
to the database for querying, updating, and
generating reports;
 The database primarily exists for their use.

There are several categories of end users:

Casual end users:- occasionally access the database.
 They are typically middle or high-level managers or
other occasional browsers.
Naive or parametric end users:- Their main job
revolves around constantly querying and updating
the database using standard types of queries and
updates called canned transactions that have been
carefully programmed.
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End Users cont’d
 Bank tellers check account balances and post
withdrawals and deposits
 Reservation clerks for airlines, hotels, and car
rental companies check availability for a given
request and make reservations

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 End Users … Cont’d
Sophisticated end users: Include engineers, scientists,
business analysts who thoroughly familiarize themselves
with the facilities of the DBMS so as to implement their
applications to meet their complex requirements.

Stand-alone end users: Maintain personal databases by

using ready made program packages that provide easy
to use menu or graphics based interfaces.
 An example is the user of a tax package that stores a
variety of personal financial data for tax purposes.

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System Analysts and Application
Programmers (Software
Engineers)
System analysts: Determine the requirements of end
users, especially naive or parametric end users,
Develop specifications for canned transactions that
meet these requirements.
Application programmers implement these
specifications as programs; then they test, debug,
document, and maintain these canned transactions.
Such analysts and programmers (nowadays called
software engineers) should be familiar with the full
range of capabilities provided by the DBMS to
accomplish their tasks.


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 A DBMS is a generalized software package for
implementing and maintaining a computerized
database.
 The database and software together form a
database system.

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 Database Development Life
Cycle
 The major steps in database design are;
1. Planning: That is identifying information gap in an
organization and propose a database solution to
solve the problem.
2. Analysis: That concentrates more on fact finding
about the problem or the opportunity.
 Feasibility analysis, requirement determination
and structuring, and selection of best design
method are also performed at this phase.
3. Design: in database designing more emphasis is
given to this phase.

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4.Implementation: coding, testing and deployment
of the designed database for use.

5.Operation and Support: administering and

maintaining the operation of the database system
and providing support to users.

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 Workers behind the Scene
 These persons are typically not interested in the database
itself. These include:
 DBMS system designers and implementers:-are persons
who design and implement the DBMS modules and
interfaces as a software package.
 A DBMS is a complex software system that consists of
many components or modules, including modules for
implementing the catalog, query language, interface
processors, data access, concurrency control, recovery,
and security.
 The DBMS must interface with other system software, such
as the operating system and compilers for various
programming languages.

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 Workers behind the Scene …
cont’d
 Tool developers: Include persons who design and
implement tools
 Tools are software packages that facilitate
database system design and use, and help improve
performance.
 Tools are optional packages that are often
purchased separately.
 Operators and maintenance personnel: are the
system administration personnel who are
responsible for the actual running and maintenance
of the hardware and software environment for the
database system.

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 Some Common uses of Databases
In a university
 Containing information about a student, the course
she/he is enrolled in, the dormitory she/he has been
given.
 Containing details of Staff who work at the university at
personnel, payroll, etc.
In a library
 There may be a database containing details of the books
in the library and details of the users,
 The database system handles activities such as
 Allowing a user to reserve a book
 Notifying when materials are overdue.

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 Some Common uses of Databases …
Cont’d

In travel agencies
 When you make inquiries about a travel, the travel agent
may access databases containing flight details like Flight
no., date,
Supermarkets
 When you buy goods from some supermarkets, a database
will be accessed.
 The checkout assistant will run a barcode reader over the
purchases.

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 the end
?
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