Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.

Types of Databases
and Database
Applications
Numeric and Textual Databases

Multimedia Databases

Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Data Warehouses

Real-time and Active Databases

A number Elmasri
of these databases and applications
Systems, Fourth Edition are
Slide 1-2
and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Basic Definitions
 Database: A collection of related data.

 Data: Known facts that can be recorded and have an implicit

meaning.
  Database Management System (DBMS): A software package/
system to facilitate the creation and maintenance of a
computerized database.
 Database System: The DBMS software together with the data
itself. Sometimes, the applications are also
included.

Slide 1-3
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Typical DBMS Functionality
Define a database : in terms of data types,
structures and constraints
Construct or Load the Database on a
secondary storage medium
Manipulating the database : querying,
generating reports, insertions, deletions and
modifications to its content
Concurrent Processing and Sharing by a set
of users and programs – yet, keeping all data
valid and consistent
Slide 1-4
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
Database
 Collection ofManagement
interrelated data System (DBMS)
 Set of programs to access the data
 DBMS contains information about a particular enterprise
 DBMS provides an environment that is both convenient and
efficient to use.
 Database Applications:
 Banking: all transactions
 Airlines: reservations, schedules
 Universities: registration, grades
 Sales: customers, products, purchases
 Manufacturing: production, inventory, orders, supply chain
 Human resources: employee records, salaries, tax
deductions
 Purpose of Database System
 In the early days, database applications were built on top of
file systems
 Drawbacks of using file systems to store data:
 Data redundancy and inconsistency
 Multiple file formats, duplication of information in
different files
 Difficulty in accessing data
 Need to write a new program to carry out each new task
 Data isolation — multiple files and formats
 Integrity problems
 Integrity constraints (e.g. account balance > 0) become
part of program code
 Hard to add new constraints or change existing ones
 Purpose of Database Systems (Cont.)
 Drawbacks of using file systems (cont.)
 Atomicity of updates
 Failures may leave database in an inconsistent state with
partial updates carried out
 E.g. transfer of funds from one account to another should
either complete or not happen at all
 Concurrent access by multiple users
 Concurrent accessed needed for performance
 Uncontrolled concurrent accesses can lead to
inconsistencies
– E.g. two people reading a balance and updating it at the
same time
 Security problems
 Database systems offer solutions to all the above problems

View of Data
We have three levels of abstraction:
Physical level: This is the lowest level of data abstraction. It describes how data
is actually stored in database. You can get the complex data structure details at
this level.

Logical level: This is the middle level of 3-level data abstraction architecture. It
describes what data is stored in database.

View level: Highest level of data abstraction. This level describes the user
interaction with database system.
xample: Let’s say we are storing customer information in a customer table. At physica
level these records can be described as blocks of storage (bytes, gigabytes, terabytes
etc.) in memory. These details are often hidden from the programmers.

At the logical level these records can be described as fields and attributes along with t
data types, their relationship among each other can be logically implemented. The
programmers generally work at this level because they are aware of such things abou
database systems.

At view level, user just interact with system with the help of GUI and enter the details
the screen, they are not aware of how the data is stored and what data is stored; such
details are hidden from them.
1.4 ADVANTAGES OF DBMS:
1. Controlling Redundancy:-
 Redundancy is storing the same data multiple times The storage space is wasted and
makes the db file becomes inconsistent.
 In file processing system, the data files are stored along with the program files. When a
user is wants to create an application, he has to create and maintain separate data files
along with the program files. Because of this, much of the data is stored more than once.
However, in the database system a single database is created and stored once and
which can be used by different users.
2) Restricting unauthorized access:
 When multiple users share a database, some users will not be authorized to access all
information in the db like some users to read the data only and some users they
permitted to modify the data a
 Typical DBMS Functionality
Other features:
 Protection or Security measures to
prevent unauthorized access
 “Active” processing to take internal
actions on data
 Presentation and Visualization of data

Slide 1-
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data
Model)
 Mini-world for the example: Part of a
UNIVERSITY environment.
Some mini-world entities:
 STUDENTs
 COURSEs
 SECTIONs (of COURSEs)
 (academic) DEPARTMENTs
 INSTRUCTORs
Note: The above could be expressed in the ENTITY-
RELATIONSHIP data model.
Slide 1-
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data
Model)
Some mini-world relationships:
 SECTIONs are of specific COURSEs
 STUDENTs take SECTIONs
 COURSEs have prerequisite COURSEs
 INSTRUCTORs teach SECTIONs
 COURSEs are offered by DEPARTMENTs
 STUDENTs major in DEPARTMENTs

Note: The above could be expressed in the ENTITY-

RELATIONSHIP data model.
Slide 1-
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Main Characteristics of the
Database Approach
Self-describing nature of a database system: A
DBMS catalog stores the description of the
database. The description is called meta-data).
This allows the DBMS software to work with
different databases.
Insulation between programs and data: Called
program-data independence. Allows
changing data storage structures and operations
without having to change the DBMS access
programs. Slide 1-
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Main Characteristics of the
Database Approach
Data Abstraction: A data model is used to
hide storage details and present the users with
a conceptual view of the database.
Support of multiple views of the data: Each
user may see a different view of the
database, which describes only the data of
interest to that user.

Slide 1-16
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Main Characteristics of the
Database Approach
Sharing of data and multiuser transaction
processing : allowing a set of concurrent users to
retrieve and to update the database. Concurrency
control within the DBMS guarantees that each
transaction is correctly executed or completely
aborted. OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is
a major part of database applications.

Slide 1-17
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Database Users
Users may be divided into those who actually
use and control the content (called “Actors
on the Scene”) and those who enable the
database to be developed and the DBMS
software to be designed and implemented
(called “Workers Behind the Scene”).

Slide 1-18
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Database Users
Actors on the scene
– Database administrators: responsible for
authorizing access to the database, for co-
ordinating and monitoring its use, acquiring
software, and hardware resources, controlling its
use and monitoring efficiency of operations.
– Database Designers: responsible to define the
content, the structure, the constraints, and
functions or transactions against the database.
They must communicate with the end-users and
understand their needs.
– End-users: they use the data for queries, reports
and some of them actually update the database
contentE.lmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc. Slide 1-19
 Categories of End-users

Casual : access database occasionally when

needed
Naïve or Parametric : they make up a large
section of the end-user population. They use
previously well-defined functions in the form
of “canned transactions” against the
database. Examples are bank-tellers or
reservation clerks who do this activity for an
entire shift of operations.
Slide 1-20
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Categories of End-users

Sophisticated : these include business analysts,

scientists, engineers, others thoroughly familiar
with the system capabilities. Many use tools in
the form of software packages that work
closely with the stored database.
Stand-alone : mostly maintain personal
databases using ready-to-use packaged
applications. An example is a tax program user
that creates his or her own internal database.
Slide 1-21
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
Controlling redundancy in data storage and
in development and maintenence efforts.
Sharing of data among multiple users.

Restricting unauthorized access to data.

Providing persistent storage for program

Objects (in Object-oriented DBMS’s – see
Chs. 20-22)
Providing Storage Structures for efficient
Slide 1-22
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
Providing backup and recovery
services.
Providing multiple interfaces to
different classes of users.
Representing complex relationships
among data.

Enforcing
 Drawin Iintegrity
ference constraints
and Actionsonusing
the Slide 1-23
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Additional Implications of
Using the Database Approach
Potential for enforcing standards: this is very
crucial for the success of database applications
in large organizations Standards refer to data
item names, display formats, screens, report
structures, meta-data (description of data) etc.
Reduced application development time:
incremental time to add each new application
is reduced.

Slide 1-24
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Additional Implications of
Using the Database Approach
Flexibility to change data structures: database structure
may evolve as new requirements are defined.
Availability of up-to-date information – very important
for on-line transaction systems such as airline, hotel,
car reservations.
Economies of scale: by consolidating data and
applications across departments wasteful overlap of
resources and personnel can be
avoided. Slide 1-25
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Historical Development of
Database Technology
Early Database Applications: The
Hierarchical and Network Models were
introduced in mid 1960’s and dominated
during the seventies. A bulk of the worldwide
database processing still occurs using these
models.
Relational Model based Systems: The
model that was originally introduced in 1970
was heavily researched and experimented
with in IBM and the universities. Relational
DBMS Products emerged in the 1980’s. Slide 1-26
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Historical Development of
Database Technology
Object-oriented applications: OODBMSs
were introduced in late 1980’s and early
1990’s to cater to the need of complex data
processing in CAD and other applications.
Their use has not taken off much.
Data on the Web and E-commerce
Applications: Web contains data in HTML
(Hypertext markup language) with links
among pages. This has given rise to a new set
of applications and E-commerce is using
new standards
Language ). like XML (eXtended
Elm a sri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth
Slide 1-27
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Extending Database
Capabilities
New functionality is being added to
DBMSs in the following areas:
 Scientific Applications
 Image Storage and Management
 Audio and Video data management
 Data Mining
 Spatial data management
 Time Series and Historical Data Management
The above gives rise to new research and development in
incorporating new data types, complex data structures, new
operations and storage and indexing schemes in database
systems.
Slide 1-28
Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 When not to usea DBMS
Main inhibitors (costs) of using a DBMS:
 High initial investment and possible need for
additional hardware.
 Overhead for providing generality, security,
concurrency control, recovery, and integrity
functions.
When a DBMS may be unnecessary:
 If the database and applications are simple, well
defined, and not expected to change.
 If there are stringent real-time requirements that
may notElmasri
be and
met because
Fundamentalsof DBMS overhead.
Slide 1-29
Navathe, of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2004 Pearson Education, Inc.
 When not to usea DBMS

When no DBMS may suffice:

 If the database system is not able to handle the
complexity of data because of modeling
limitations
 If the database users need special operations not
supported by the DBMS.

Side 1-30