Chapter 1
Databases and
Database Users
Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Pearson Addison-Wesley
Introduction
Database
Collection of related data
• Known facts that can be recorded and that have
implicit meaning
Implicit properties:
• Represents some aspect of the real world:
Miniworld or universe of discourse (UoD)
• Logically coherent collection of data with inherent
meaning
• Built for a specific purpose
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Database management system
(DBMS)
Database management system (DBMS): Collection of programs Enables
users to create and maintain a database;
Defining a database: Specify the data types, structures, and constraints of the data to
be stored
• Meta-data: Database definition or descriptive information; Stored by the DBMS in the form of a
database catalog or dictionary
Constructing: storing the data on some storage medium
Manipulating a database
• Query and update the database miniworld
• Generate reports
Sharing a database
• Allow multiple users and programs to access the database simultaneously
Application program: Accesses database by sending queries to DBMS
• Query: Causes some data to be retrieved
• Transaction: May cause some data to be read and some data to be written into the database
Protection includes:
• System protection: against hardware or software malfunction
• Security protection: against unauthorized or malicious access
Maintain the database system
• Allow the system to evolve as requirements change over time
Database + DBMS = database system
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
An Example
UNIVERSITY database
Information concerning students, courses, and
grades in a university environment
Data records
STUDENT
COURSE
SECTION
GRADE_REPORT
PREREQUISITE
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
An Example (cont'd.)
Specify structure of records of each file by specifying data type for each data element
String of alphabetic characters
Integer
Etc.
Construct UNIVERSITY database
Store data to represent each student, course, section, grade report, and prerequisite as a record in
appropriate file
Relationships among the records
Records in STUDENT file is related to records in GRADE_REPORT
Manipulation involves querying and updating
Examples of queries:
• Retrieve the transcript
• List the names of students who took the section of the ‘Database’ course offered in fall 2008 and their grades in
that section
• List the prerequisites of the ‘Database’ course
Examples of updates:
• Change the class of ‘Smith’ to sophomore
• Create a new section for the ‘Database’ course for this semester
• Enter a grade of ‘A’ for ‘Smith’ in the ‘Database’ section of last semester
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
An Example (cont'd.)
Phases for designing a database:
Requirements specification and analysis
Conceptual design
Logical design
Physical design
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of the Database
Approach
File vs. database
Traditional file processing
• Each user defines and implements the files needed
for a specific software application –duplicate efforts
• Waste storage space and in redundant efforts to
maintain common up to date data
• Data may become inconsistent
Database approach: Single repository
maintains data that is defined once and then
accessed by various users
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of the Database
Approach (cont'd.)
Self-Describing Nature of a Database
System
Database system contains complete definition
of structure and constraints
• Meta-data: information stored in the catalog
Describes structure of the database
Database catalog used by:
• DBMS software
• Database users who need information about
database structure
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of the Database
Approach (cont'd.)
Insulation Between Programs and Data
Program-data independence
• Structure of data files is stored in DBMS catalog separately from access programs
• Program-operation independence
Operations specified in two parts:
• Interface includes operation name and data types of its arguments
• Implementation can be changed without affecting the interface
Data Abstraction: Allows program-data independence and program-
operation independence
• DBMS provide Conceptual representation of data
• Does not include details of how data is stored or how operations are implemented
• Data model is Type of data abstraction used to provide conceptual representation
• Data model uses logical concepts, such as objects, their properties and their relationships
• Data model hides storage and implementation details that are not of interest to most
database users
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of the Database
Approach (cont'd.)
Support of Multiple Views of the Data
View
• Subset of the database
• Contains virtual data derived from the database
files but is not explicitly stored
Multiuser DBMS
• Users have a variety of distinct applications
• Must provide facilities for defining multiple views
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Characteristics of the Database
Approach (cont'd.)
Sharing of Data and Multiuser Transaction Processing
Allow multiple users to access the database at the same time
Concurrency control software
• Ensure that several users trying to update the same data do so in a controlled
manner
• Result of the updates is correct
Online transaction processing (OLTP) application
• Multiple agents access to flight ticket for reservation
Transaction: is an executing program or process that includes one
or more database accesses.
• Central to many database applications
• Executing program or process that includes one or more database
• Transaction properties:
• Isolation property: Each transaction appears to execute in isolation from other
transactions
• Atomicity property: Either all the database operations in a transaction are executed or
none are
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Actors on the Scene
Database administrators (DBA) are responsible for:
Authorizing access to the database
Coordinating and monitoring its use
Acquiring software and hardware resources
Database designers are responsible for:
Identifying the data to be stored
Choosing appropriate structures to represent and store this data
System analysts: Determine requirements of end users, and develop
specifications fro standard canned transactions that meet these requirements.
Application programmers: Implement these specifications as programs.
End users: People whose jobs require access to the database
Casual end users
Naive or parametric end users
• Reservation agents; bank teller
Sophisticated end users
Standalone users
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Workers behind the Scene
DBMS system designers and
implementers
Design and implement the DBMS modules and
interfaces as a software package
Tool developers
Design and implement tools
Operators and maintenance personnel
Responsible for running and maintenance of
hardware and software environment for
database system
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach
Controlling redundancy
Redundancy: storing data multiple times:
• Redundancy is controlled when the DBMS ensures
that multiple copies of the same data are consistent
• If the DBMS has no control over this, we have
uncontrolled redundancy.
Data normalization: store each logical data
item in only one place
Denormalization: Sometimes necessary to
use controlled redundancy to improve the
performance of queries
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach
Restricting unauthorized access
Security and authorization subsystem
Privileged software
Providing persistent storage for program
objects
Complex object in C++ can be stored
permanently in an object-oriented DBMS
Impedance mismatch problem
• Object-oriented database systems typically offer
data structure compatibility
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach (cont'd.)
Providing storage structures and search techniques for
efficient query processing
Indexes
Buffering and caching
Query processing and optimization
Providing backup and recovery
Backup and recovery subsystem of the DBMS is
responsible for recovery
Providing multiple user interfaces
Graphical user interfaces (GUIs)
Representing complex relationships among data
May include numerous varieties of data that are interrelated
in many ways
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach (cont'd.)
Enforcing integrity constraints
Referential integrity constraint
• Every section record must be related to a course
record
Key or uniqueness constraint
• Every course record must have a unique value for
Course_number
Business rules
Inherent rules of the data model
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach (cont'd.)
Permitting inferencing and actions using rules
Deductive database systems
• Provide capabilities for defining deduction rules
• Inference new information from the stored database facts
Trigger: a form of a rule activated by updates
to the table, which results in performing
additional operations to some other tables.
Stored procedures
• More involved procedures to enforce rules
• Active database system: provide active rules that
can automatically initiate actions when certain
events and condition occur
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Advantages of Using the DBMS
Approach (cont'd.)
Additional implications of using the
database approach
Potential for enforcing standards
Reduced application development time
Flexibility
Availability of up-to-date information
Economies of scale
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
A Brief History of Database
Applications
Early database applications using
hierarchical and network systems
Large numbers of records of similar structure
Providing data abstraction and application
flexibility with relational databases
Separates physical storage of data from its
conceptual representation
Provides a mathematical foundation for data
representation and querying
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
A Brief History of Database
Applications (cont'd.)
Object-oriented applications and the need
for more complex databases
Used in specialized applications: engineering
design, multimedia publishing, and
manufacturing systems
Interchanging data on the Web for e-
commerce using XML
Extended markup language (XML) primary
standard for interchanging data among various
types of databases and Web pages
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
A Brief History of Database
Applications (cont'd.)
Extending database capabilities for new
applications
Extensions to better support specialized
requirements for applications
Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
Customer relationship management (CRM)
Databases versus information retrieval
Information retrieval (IR)
• Deals with books, manuscripts, and various forms of
library-based articles
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
When Not to Use a DBMS
More desirable to use regular files for:
Simple, well-defined database applications not
expected to change at all
Stringent, real-time requirements that may not
be met because of DBMS overhead
Embedded systems with limited storage
capacity
No multiple-user access to data
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
Summary
Database
Collection of related data (recorded facts)
DBMS
Generalized software package for
implementing and maintaining a computerized
database
Several categories of database users
Database applications have evolved
Current trends: IR, Web, no-sql
Copyright © 2011 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant Navathe
