IST 210

Databases and DBMSs

Todd S. Bacastow
January 2005

1
IST 210
Evolution
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Ways of storing data
 Files (1960) (ancient times)
 Databases
 Hierarchical (1970)
 Network (1970)
 Relational (1980)
 Object (1990)
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File terms
 Record
 data items related to a single logical entity
(e.g. a student’s information) or row in a table
 Field
 a place for a data item in a record (first name
field in a student record) or a column in a table
 File
 a sequence of records of the same type (the
table)
IST 210
File structures

A file: “STUDENT”
field

ID Last First Grade

3 Smith Jane A
1 Wood Bob C
record
2 Kent Chuck B
4 Boone Dan B
IST 210 File organization

 Serial
 new records appended
 Sequential
 records ordered in file, usually according to
a numeric key
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File structures
 Serial
ID Last First Grade
 list of entries in 3 Smith Jane A
which the order
1 Wood Bob C
of entry into the
list determines 2 Kent Chuck B
the order of the 4 Boone Dan B
list
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File structures

 Search of a simple ID Last First Grade

list entails going 3 Smith Jane A
through each record 1 Wood Bob C
until the query is
2 Kent Chuck B
satisfied (linear
search), which is 4 Boone Dan B
inefficient
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File structures

 Sequential ID Last First Grade

 list of entries 1 Wood Bob C
ordered in some
2 Kent Chuck B
way (e.g.
numerically or 3 Smith Jane A
alphabetically) 4 Boone Dan B
IST 210
File structures

ID Last First Grade

 Search of an 1 Wood Bob C
ordered
sequential list can 2 Kent Chuck B

use a search 3 Smith Jane A

method 4 Boone Dan B
IST 210
File structures
 Indexes provide a reference to records based on an index
field, which is ordered
Last Pointer ID Last First Grade

Boone * 1 Wood Bob C

Kent * 2 Kent Chuck B
Smith * 3 Smith Jane A
Wood * 4 Boone Dan B
IST 210 Problems with files
 Redundancy
 number of files grows with
applications, and data is
duplicated
 Inconsistency
 data is updated in one
application’s files, but not in
another’s
 Maintenance problems
 changes to data structures
mean changes to many
programs
 Difficulty combining data
 business needs may mean
users want data from
different applications
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Other ways to organize
 Data model
 A data model is a particular way of conceptually organizing
multiple data files in a database
 Other common models
 Hierarchical

 Network

 Relational

 Object
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Network model
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Network data model

Class
Relationships:
• one-to-one
• one-to-many
Student Instructor
• many-to-one
• many-to-many

Grade ID Department
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Network data model

 Advantages
 flexible, fast, efficient
 Disadvantages
 Complex
 Restructuring can be difficult because of
changing all the pointers
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Hierarchical database model
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Hierarchical data model

Class
 Parent-child
relationship:
 one-to-one Student Instructor
 one-to-many

Grade ID Department
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Hierarchical data model
 Advantages
 easy to search
 add new branches easily
 Disadvantages
 Must establish the types of search prior to
development of the hierarchical structure
IST 210
Summary
 Hierarchical and network data models have
generally been replaced by the relational data
model
 Relational databases dominate the database
market
 Oracle
 Informix
 SQL Server
 DB2
 ……..
IST 210
Relational database model

 Stores both
 Data about real
world objects
(entities) in
tables
 Relationships
between the
tables
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Relational database
 Fields (columns) in the
table store attributes.
 Each attribute has a
specific domain.
 Tuples (or records or
rows) in the table store
information.
 Each tuple is a unique
instance of an object.
 Tables are composed of
a set of tuples.
 A table is also called a
relation.
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Terms
 Table
 A collection of relevant data relating to one type of real world
objects.
 Column
 A specific place for one type of data relating to one type of
real world objects.
 Domain
 Set of all possible values for a specific column.
 Row
 Collection of data describing one real world object.
 Primary Key
 Columns, which are part of the row and uniquely identify any
one row.
IST 210 Records
 Each record represents a logical entity (e.g. a
student)
 Each field represents an attribute of the
logical entity
Student
ID Last First Grade Class
1 Wood Bob C IST357
2 Kent Chuck B IST115
3 Smith Jane A IST357
4 Boone Dan B IST357
IST 210
Keys
 Each table has a primary key, one field (or a
combination of fields) that has a unique value for
each and every record in the table
Student
ID Last First Grade Class
ID is the primary key 1 Wood Bob C IST357
in this table (two
students may share 2 Kent Chuck B IST115
either a last or first 3 Smith Jane A IST357
name)
4 Boone Dan B IST357
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Relating tables
 Tables can be related (joined) together based on their keys
 The idea is to decompose into separate tables with no
redundancy and to provide a capability to reassemble with no
information loss

Student
Class
ID Last First Grade Class
Name #Stud Instructor
1 Wood Bob C IST357
IST357 48 Jones
2 Kent Chuck B IST115
IST115 120 Brower
3 Smith Jane A IST357
IST20 120 Fountain
4 Boone Dan B IST357
IST 210 Relating tables
Primary key Foreign key Primary key

Student
Class
ID Last First Grade Class
1 Wood Bob C IST357 Name #Stud Instructor
IST357 48 Jones
2 Kent Chuck B IST115
IST115 120 Brower
3 Smith Jane A IST357
IST20 120 Mennis
4 Boone Dan B IST357
IST 210 Relating tables
Student
ID Last First Grade Class Class
Name #Stud Instructor
1 Wood Bob C IST357
IST20 120 Brower
2 Kent Chuck B IST115
IST115 120 Jones
3 Smith Jane A IST357
IST357 48 Jones
4 Boone Dan B IST357

Instructor
Name Office
Jones 332
Brower 517
IST 210
DBMS Schema
 Ultimately data in databases is stored in
files, but their structure is hidden

External Schema The view on data used by

application programs.

Conceptual Schema The logical model of data that is

separate from how it is used.

Internal Schema The physical storage of data in

files and indexes.
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RDBMS Features
 Data Definition Language
(DDL)
 Data Manipulation Language
(DML)
 Integrity Constraints
 Transaction Management
 Concurrency
 Security
 Tuning of Storage
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Data integrity and validation (Constraints)
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Relationships
 Link between
entities.
 A relationship may
define constraints.
 E.G, a person can
only have one SSN.
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Advantages of RDBMS
 Eliminate unnecessary duplication of data
 Enforce data integrity through constraints
 Changes to conceptual schema need not
affect external schema
 Changes to internal schema need not affect
the conceptual schema
 Many tools are available to manage the
database
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Disadvantages of RDBMS
 To store objects (e.g., drawings) in a
relational database, the objects have to be
‘flattened’ into tables
 e.g., a digital representation of a parcel must be
separated from the behaviour of other parcels
 Complex objects have to be taken apart and
the parts stored in different tables
 When retrieved from the database, the object
has to be reassembled from the parts in
different tables
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Other Types of DBMS
 Object DBMS
 store objects as objects
 designed to handle complex nested objects
for graphical and multimedia applications
 Object-relational DBMS
 hybrid databases that can store data in
tables but can also store objects in tables
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Object DBMS
 ODBMS have the
advantage that
objects can be
stored directly
 Object databases
are closely linked
to programming
languages with
ways of navigating
through the
database
IST 210
Summary

Common Textbook Alternate Object word

word word word
Table Relation File or Data set Object class
(old)
Column Attribute Field Object field

Domain Domain Range of Datatype,

possible values subtype

Row Tuple Record Object instance

Primary key Primary key Key of the Object identifier

record