DCIT 305: Databases Fundamentals

Session 1:
Introduction to Database Fundamentals

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 Session Topics
• Some introductory topics
• Databases
• Types of Applications
• Pre-database information systems
• Database approach
• DBMS
• Commercial implementations
• The relational model and alternatives

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 Outcomes
Students would be able to:
• Give a definition of what a database is
• Give examples of databases in use
• Distinguish between data and information
• Describe the main features of a database system
• Understand the role of the DBMS
• Describe pre-database information systems
• Appreciate the significance of the relational model

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 Significance of Databases
• Relatively new technology – beginning properly in
1970s
• One of the most important components of
Information Technology
• Databases are everywhere

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 Student Activity - Brainstorm
• What databases hold information about you?
• What databases have you interacted with?
– Take a few minutes to think about this and write
down your answers

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 Examples of Use
• Supermarket checkout
• Purchasing using a credit card
• Booking a holiday
• Using a library
• Taking out insurance
• Obtaining a passport or other official document
• Using the Internet
• Studying at college or university

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 What is a database?
• “A database is a computerised record keeping
system”

by C. J. Date

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 Record Keeping Systems
• File system on a computer
• Word document
• Excel Spreadsheet
• Access database
• Manual card index file
• Files on a USB stick

• Are these all databases?

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 Database Functions
• Databases should be able to:
– Store
– Manipulate
– Retrieve

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 Database Size
• Databases range in size:
– Single user databases on a PC
– Small office database with everyone doing the
same sorts of tasks
– Medium size database system with core data but
people doing different tasks
– Corporate databases spread over many sites
– Very large databases and data-warehouses

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 But databases aren’t like buckets!
• Database systems are not just a mass of data
• It isn’t just about what they can hold
• They are organised
• So we need a more precise definition

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 More Detailed Definition
• “We define a database as an organised collection
of logically related data”.

by J. Hoffer, V. Ramesh and H. Toppi

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 What does this mean?
• Organised
• Logically related
• Data

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 Organised
• Data is structured so as to be easily stored,
manipulated and retrieved by users.
• It is no good just having some data if we don’t
know how to get it in order to look at it and use it.

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 Related
• Pieces of data do not exist in isolation
• For example:
– In a salesperson’s database, it is natural for the
customer’s name and the customer’s address to be
stored together, because they are related.
– Together, with other data about the customer, they
are part of a meaningful set

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 Student Activity: What is data?
• What qualities about you might be of interest to:
– College or university
– Social networking site

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 Data Types: Traditional
• Text such as names, address etc.
• Numbers such as: how many children.
• Dates such as a date of birth

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 Data Types: Multi-media
• Images
• Sounds
• Video
• Scans of documents

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 Data and Information
• Traditionally there has been a distinction made
between ‘data’ and ‘information’
• Data are ‘raw facts’
Kyewa, Abena 19.01.80 98778373
Mensah, Isaac 01.02.81 97327627
Anani, Abraham 08.08.81 98737373
Noi, Nii 09.09.81 93838383
Amful, Albert 01.01.80 98383837
Serwaa, Maame 27.05.80 99344222

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 Information
• Data that has been processed and given
meaning
Class list for Databases Module
Autumn Semester 2010
Student Name Student ID Date of Birth
Abena Kyeewa 98778373 19th Jan 1980
Isaac Mensah 97327627 1st Feb 1981
Abraham Anani 98737373 8th Aug 1981
Nii Noi 93838383 9th Sep 1981
Albert Amful 98383837 1st Jan 1981
Maame Serwaa 99344222 27th May 1980

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 Information is Important
• Economically
• Politically
• Personally

• Databases are the key to information

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 Data in MS Access

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 Data in Oracle SQL
SQL> select * from employee;

EMPNO ENAME JOB MGR HIREDATE SAL COMM DEPTNO

--------- ---------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
7369 SMITH CLERK 7902 17-DEC-80 800 20
7499 ALLEN SALESMAN 7698 20-FEB-81 1600 300 30
7521 WARD SALESMAN 7698 22-FEB-81 1250 500 30
7566 JONES MANAGER 7839 02-APR-81 2975 20
7654 MARTIN SALESMAN 7698 28-SEP-81 1250 1400 30
7698 BLAKE MANAGER 7839 01-MAY-81 2850 30
7782 CLARK MANAGER 7839 09-JUN-81 2450 10
7788 SCOTT ANALYST 7566 19-APR-87 3000 20

8 rows selected.

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 Metadata - 1

Name Type Length Description

Student Name Character 50 Student’s
name
Student ID Number 8 Unique identification
number for a student
Date of Birth Date 8 Student’s date of birth
in the format
’01.01.80’

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 Metadata in MS Access

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 Metadata in Oracle SQL
SQL> desc emp
Name Null? Type
------------------------------- -------- ----
EMPNO NOT NULL NUMBER(4)
ENAME VARCHAR2(10)
JOB VARCHAR2(9)
MGR NUMBER(4)
HIREDATE DATE
SAL NUMBER(7,2)
COMM NUMBER(7,2)
DEPTNO NUMBER(2)

SQL>

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 Metadata - 2
• Metadata is data that is about data.
• It is the way in which the database keeps
information about its own structure.
• It is important in understanding how data can be
independent of applications in the database
approach.
• Metadata is stored in the data dictionary.

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 Activity
• Define metadata for data about the following:
- Students in a college database
- Books in a library system
- Holidays booked by a person at a workplace

• Try to think about what data needs to be kept - will

it be a character, date or number?

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 Two-File Processing System
Customer
Customer
File Processing System
User
Customer File

Rental File Rental

User Processing System

Rental File

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 File Processing Systems
• Data are separated and isolated.
• Data are often duplicated.
• Application programs are dependent on file
formats.
• Files are often incompatible with one another.
• It is difficult to represent data in a user’s
perspective.

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 Basic Structure of a Database
User Customer
Processing
Application

User Rental
Processing
Application

DBMS
User Other
Application

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 Database System in Detail
DBMS serves as intermediary
between user and the database by translating
user requests into the complex code required
Customer to fulfill those requests.
User Processing
Application Requests
Application

Data
Rental Application Requests METADATA
User Processing DATA
Application Data
Application Requests
DBMS
Other Database
User Application Data Management Database
System
Application programs might be written in a programming
Language, such as Visual Basic or C++, or it might
be created through a DBMS utility e.g. Access’s forms wizard.

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 Features of the Database Approach
• Integrated data
• Reduced data duplication
• Program/data independence
• Easier representation of users’ perspectives
• Database systems are self-describing
• Database systems maintain program-data
independence.
• A database is a model of a model.

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 Common Applications
• Forms
• Reports
• Web-applications
• Batch processes

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 DBMS – Architecture
• Kernel: Central engine, which operates most of the
core data management

• Toolkit: The tools and applications that interact

with the end-users

• Interface: handles the interaction between the

toolkit and the kernel

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 Kernel, Interface and Toolkit
DBMS Toolkit
Interface
DBMS Kernel

Database

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 DBMS-Functions
• CRUD functions
• Data dictionary
• Transaction management
• Concurrency control
• Recovery
• Authorisation
• Data communication
• Data integrity
• Administration utilities

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 DBMS Interface Functions
• Data Definition Language DDL
• Data Manipulation Language DML
• Data Integrity Language DIL
• Data Control Language DCL

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 Advantages of DBMS - 1
• Control of data redundancy
• Data consistency
• More information from the same amount of data
• Sharing of data
• Improved data integrity
• Improved security
• Enforcement of standards

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 Advantages of DBMS - 2
• Economy of scale
• Balance of conflicting requirements
• Improved data accessibility and responsiveness
• Increased productivity
• Improved maintenance through data independence
• Increased concurrency
• Improved backup and recovery services

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 Disadvantages of DBMS
• Complexity
• Size
• Cost of DBMSs
• Additional hardware costs
• Cost of conversion
• Performance
• Higher impact of a failure

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 Market Share of Commercial
Products
Market Share 2008

Others
14%
MySQL
DB2 29%
10%

MS Access /
Sql SERVER
24%
Oracle
23%

Figures taken from http://online.creativesystemdesigns.com/projects/databases.asp

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 Commercial Implementations
• Oracle
• Microsoft SQL Server
• MySQL

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 Data Models
• Hierarchical
• Network
• Relational
• Object-oriented
• Deductive
• Post-relational

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 Revisting Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic, students will be able to:
• Give a definition of what a database is
• Give examples of databases in use
• Distinguish between data and information
• Describe the main features of a database system
• Understand the role of the DBMS
• Describe pre-database information systems
• Appreciate the significance of the relational model

• Have we met them?

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 References
• Chapter 1 of Connolly, T and Begg, C (2009). Database
Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and
Management 5th Edition. Addison Wesley

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 Any Questions?

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