B RIEF H I STORY

OF REL ATIONAL
MODEL
THE RELATIONAL MODEL WAS FIRST
PROPOSED BY E. F. CODD IN HIS
SEMINALPAPER
“A RELATIONAL MODEL OF DATA
FOR LARGE SHARED DATA BANKS”.
THIS PAPER IS NOW GENERALLY
ACCEPTED AS A LANDMARK IN
DATABASE SYSTEMS, ALTHOUGH A
SET-ORIENTED MODEL HAD BEEN
PROPOSED PREVIOUSLY.
THE REL ATIONAL MODEL’S OBJECTIVES WERE SPECIFIED
AS FOLLOWS:

TO ALLOW A HIGH DEGREE OF DATA INDEPENDENCE.

APPLICATION PROGRAMS MUST NOT BE AFFECTED BY
MODIFICATIONS TO THE INTERNAL DATA REPRESENTATION.

 TO PROVIDE SUBSTANTIAL GROUNDS FOR DEALING WITH

DATA SEMANTICS, CONSISTENCY, AND REDUNDANCY
PROBLEMS.

 TO ENABLE THE EXPANSION OF SET- ORIENTED DATA

MANIPUL ATION L ANGUAGES.
ALTHOUGH INTEREST IN THE
RELATIONAL MODEL CAME
FROM SEVERAL DIRECTIONS, THE MOST
SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH MAY BE
ATTRIBUTED TO THREE PROJECTS WITH
RATHER DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE.
THESE THREE PROJECTS WHERE:
PROTOTYPE RELATIONAL DBMS SYSTEM
R ,INGRES  – INTERACTIVE
GRAPHICS RETRIEVAL), PETERLEE
RELATIONAL TEST VEHICLE .
THE RELATIONAL MODEL IS BASED ON THE MATHEMATICAL
CONCEPT OF A RELATION , WHICH IS PHYSICALLY REPRESENTED
AS A TABLE . CODD, USED TERMINOLOGY TAKEN FROM
MATHEMATICS, PRINCIPALLY SET THEORY AND PREDICATE
LOGIC.
RELATION IS A TABLE WITH COLUMNS AND ROWS.
ATTRIBUTE IS A NAMED COLUMN OF A RELATION. IN RELATIONAL
MODEL, RELATIONS ARE USED TO HOLD INFORMATION ABOUT THE
OBJECTS TO BE REPRESENTED IN A DATABASE. ATTRIBUTES CAN
APPEAR IN ANY ORDER AND THE RELATION WILL STILL BE THE
SAME RELATION, AND THEREFORE CONVEY THE SAME MEANING.
THE RELATIONAL MODEL USED THE BASIC CONCEPT OF A
RELATION OR TABLE. THE COLUMNS OR FIELDS IN THE TABLE
IDENTIFY THE ATTRIBUTES SUCH AS NAME, AGE, AND SO.
THE RELATIONAL MODEL WAS THE
FIRST THEORETICALLY FOUNDED AND
WELL THOUGHT OUT DATA MODEL,
PROPOSED BY EF CODD IN 1970. IT
HAS BEEN THE FOUNDATION OF MOST
DATABASE SOFTWARE AND
THEORETICAL DATABASE RESEARCH
EVER SINCE.
THE PURPOSE OF THE RELATIONAL MODEL IS TO
PROVIDE A DECLARATIVE METHOD FOR
SPECIFYING DATA AND QUERIES: USERS
DIRECTLY STATE WHAT INFORMATION THE
DATABASE CONTAINS AND WHAT
INFORMATION THEY WANT FROM IT, AND LET
THE DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
SOFTWARE TAKE CARE OF DESCRIBING DATA
STRUCTURES FOR STORING THE DATA AND
RETRIEVAL PROCEDURES FOR ANSWERING
QUERIES.
 ADVANTAGES OF RELATIONAL MODEL
E A S E O F U S E : T H E R E V I S I O N O F A N Y I N F O R M A T I O N A S T AB L E S C O N S I S T I N G 0 F R O W S
AND COLUMNS IS QUITE NATURAL AND THEREFORE EVEN FIRST TIME USERS FIND IT
A T T RA C T I V E .

F L E X I B I L I T Y : D I F F E R EN T T A B L E S F R O M W H I C H I N F O R M A T I O N H A S T O B E LI N K E D A N D
E X T R A C T E D C A N B E E A S I L Y M A N I P U LA T E D B Y O P ER A T O R S S U C H A S P R O J E C T A N D
JOIN TO GIVE INFORMATION IN THE FORM IN WHICH IT IS DESIRED.

S E C U R I T Y : S E C U R I T Y C O N T RO L A N D A U T H O R I Z AT I O N C A N A L S O B E I M PL E M E N T E D
M O R E E AS I LY B Y M O V I N G S E N S I T I V E AT T R I B U T E S I N A G I V E N T A B L E I N T O A
S E P AR A T E R E LA T I O N W I T H I T S O W N A U T H O R I Z A T I O N C O N T R O LS . I F A U T H O R I Z A T I O N
R EQ U I R E M EN T P E R M I T S , A PA R T I C U LA R A T T R I B U T E C O U L D B E JO I N E D B A C K W I T H
O T H E R S T O E N A B LE F U LL I N F O RM A T I O N R E T R I E V A L .

D A T A I N D E P E N D E N C E : D A T A I N D E PE N D E N C E I S A C H I E V ED M O R E E A S I LY W I T H
N O R M A L IZ AT I O N S T R U C T U R E U S E D I N A R E L A T I O N A L D A T A B A S E T H A N I N T H E M O R E
C O M P L I C A T E D T R E E O R N ET W O R K S T R U C T U R E.
 DIS-ADVANTAGES OF RELATIONAL MODEL

H A R D W A R E O V E R H E A D S : RELATIONAL DATABASE SYSTEMS HIDE THE

IMPLEMENTATION COMPLEXITIES AND THE PHYSICAL DATA STORAGE
DETAILS FROM THE USER. FOR DOING THIS, THE RELATIONAL DATABASE
SYSTEM NEED MORE POWERFUL HARDWARE COMPUTERS AND DATA
STORAGE DEVICES.

E A S E O F D E S I G N C A N L E A D T O B A D D E S I G N :  THE RELATIONAL
DATABASE IS EASY TO DESIGN AND USE. THE USER NEEDS NOT TO KNOW
THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE DATA STORAGE. THIS EASE OF DESIGN AND
USE CAN LEAD TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE
VERY POORLY DESIGNED DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
RELATIONAL MODEL
BRIEF HISTORY OF
RELATIONAL DATA
STRUCTURE
RELATIONAL DATA STRUCTURE
A TYPE OF DATA STRUCTURE IN WHICH DATA ARE REPRESENTED 
AS TABLES IN WHICH NO ENTRY CONTAINS MORE THAN ONE 
VALUE.

R E L A T I O N A L  DATABASE S T R U C T U R E . ... A DATABASE THAT CAN

BE PERCEIVED AS A SET OF TABLES AND MANIPULATED IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE R E L A T I O N A L  MODEL OF D A T A . EACH
DATABASE INCLUDES: A SET OF SYSTEM CATALOG TABLES THAT
DESCRIBE THE LOGICAL AND PHYSICAL  S T R U C T U R E  OF
THE D A T A .
RELATIONAL DATA STRUCTURE
THE DATABASE AND THE DATABASE STRUCTURE ARE DEFINED IN THE
INSTALLATION PROCESS. THE STRUCTURE OF THE DATABASE DEPENDS ON
WHETHER THE DATABASE IS ORACLE DATABASE, IBM® DB2®,
OR MICROSOFT SQL SERVER.

A DATABASE THAT CAN BE PERCEIVED AS A SET OF TABLES AND

MANIPULATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RELATIONAL MODEL OF DATA.
EACH DATABASE INCLUDES:

A SET OF SYSTEM CATALOG TABLES THAT DESCRIBE THE LOGICAL AND

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF THE DATA

A CONFIGURATION FILE CONTAINING THE PARAMETER VALUES ALLOCATED

FOR THE DATABASE

A RECOVERY LOG WITH ONGOING TRANSACTIONS AND ARCHIVABLE

TRANSACTIONS