Chapter 1
Introduction and
Conceptual Modeling
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University
Types of Databases and Database Applications
● Numeric and Textual Databases – traditional database applications where
information stored and accessed is either textual and/or numeric. E.g. database
applications in banks, hotel or airline reservation, library information, payroll
systems, examination systems and other information systems in colleges and
universities, online store etc.
● Multimedia Databases – store and access data in form of images, audio clips,
and video streams along with other textual and numeric data.
● Geographic Information Systems (GIS) – store and analyze maps, weather
data, and satellite images.
● Data Warehouses – used to extract and analyze useful information form very
large databases to support decision making by the management of an
organization.
● Real-time and Active Databases – used to control industrial and manufacturing
processes.
● WWW – the World-wide-web can also be considered as a database spread
across millions of independent computing machines. Search Engines are used
to search information in the WWW.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-2
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Basic Definitions
● Database: A collection of related data with some inherent
meaning.
● Data: Known facts that can be recorded and have an implicit
meaning.
● Mini-world or Universe of discourse (UoD): Some part of the
real world about which data is stored in a database. For example,
student grades and transcripts at a university. Changes to the
miniworld are reflected in the database
● Database Management System (DBMS): A general purpose
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-3
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Basic Definition
A database has the following implicit properties:
●A database represents some aspect of the real world,
sometimes called the miniworld or the universe of discourse
(UoD). Changes to the miniworld are reflected in the
database.
●A database is a logically coherent collection of data with
some inherent meaning. A random assortment of data cannot
correctly be referred to as a database.
●A database is designed, built, and populated with data for a
specific purpose. It has an intended group of users and some
preconceived applications in which these users are interested.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-4
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Typical DBMS Functionality
● Defining a database is the process of specifying the
data types, structures and constraints of the data to be
stored in the database
● Constructing the database is the process of storing
the data on some storage medium that is controlled
by the DBMS
● Manipulating the database : querying, generating
reports, insertions, deletions and modifications to its
content
● Sharing allows a set of users and programs to access
the database simultaneously
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-5
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-6
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Users/Programmers
Database
System
Application Programs/Queries
DBMS Software to Process
Software
Programs/Queries
Software to Access
Stored Data
Stored
Database Stored Database
Definition
A simplified database system environment
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-7
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-8
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-9
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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 and data
abstraction: Called program-data
independence. Allows changing data storage
structures and operations without having to
change the DBMS access programs.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-10
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-11
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-12
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Controlling redundancy in data storage and
in development and maintenance efforts
– Redundancy leads to
● Duplication of efforts
● Wastage of storage space
● Inconsistency
– Ideally store each data item in only one place
– Sometimes necessary to use controlled
redundancy
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-13
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Sharing of data among multiple users
– Several groups of users use the same database
using different views
● Restricting unauthorized access to data
– Security and authorization susbsystem
– Authorization can also be applied to DBMS
software
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-14
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Providing persistent storage for program
Objects
– OO Database systems are compatible with
programming languages
– DBMS software automatically perform any
necessary conversion
– Overcome the so-called impedance mismatch
problem
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-15
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Providing Storage Structures for efficient
Query Processing
– Specialized data structures to speed up disk
search (indexes)
– Query processing and optimization module
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-16
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Providing backup and recovery services
– Backup and recovery subsystem of DBMS is
responsible for recovery from hardware and software
failure
● Providing multiple interfaces to different classes of users
– Query language
– Programming language
– Menu driven or form style (GUI)
– Natural language
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-17
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
Advantages of Using the
Database Approach
● Representing complex relationships among data
● Enforcing integrity constraints on the database
● Drawing Inferences and Actions using rules
– Deduction rules for inferencing new information
– Trigger
– Stored procedure
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-18
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-19
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-20
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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.
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-21
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
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 like XML (eXtended Markup
Language).
Sarat Saharia, Deptt. of CSE, Tezpur University Slide 1-22
Edited from the slides of Elmasri and Navathe, Fundamentals of Database Systems, Fourth Edition
