Content text Database Management Systems-1.pdf
DATABASE MANGAEMENT SYSTEM Page 1 UNIT-1 Introduction to Database Management System As the name suggests, the database management system consists of two parts. They are: 1. Database and 2. Management System What is a Database? To find out what database is, we have to start from data, which is the basic building block of any DBMS. Data: Facts, figures, statistics etc. having no particular meaning (e.g. 1, ABC, 19 etc). Record: Collection of related data items, e.g. in the above example the three data items had no meaning. But if we organize them in the following way, then they collectively represent meaningful information. Roll Name Age 1 ABC 19 Table or Relation: Collection of related records. Roll Name Age 1 ABC 19 2 DEF 22 3 XYZ 28 The columns of this relation are called Fields, Attributes or Domains. The rows are called Tuples or Records. Database: Collection of related relations. Consider the following collection of tables: T1 T2 Roll Name Age Roll Address 1 ABC 19 1 KOL 2 DEF 22 2 DEL 3 XYZ 28 3 MUM T3 T4
DATABASE MANGAEMENT SYSTEM Page 4 Database systems arose in response to early methods of computerized management of commercial data. As an example of such methods, typical of the 1960s, consider part of a university organization that, among other data, keeps information about all instructors, students, departments, and course offerings. One way to keep the information on a computer is to store it in operating system files. To allow users to manipulate the information, the system has a number of application programs that manipulate the files, including programs to: Add new students, instructors, and courses Register students for courses and generate class rosters Assign grades to students, compute grade point averages (GPA), and generate transcripts This typical file-processing system is supported by a conventional operating system. The system stores permanent records in various files, and it needs different application programs to extract records from, and add records to, the appropriate files. Before database management systems (DBMSs) were introduced, organizations usually stored information in such systems. Keeping organizational information in a file-processing system has a number of major disadvantages: Data redundancy and inconsistency. Since different programmers create the files and application programs over a long period, the various files are likely to have different structures and the programs may be written in several programming languages. Moreover, the same information may be duplicated in several places (files). For example, if a student has a double major (say, music and mathematics) the address and telephone number of that student may appear in a file that consists of student records of students in the Music department and in a file that consists of student records of students in the Mathematics department. This redundancy leads to higher storage and access cost. In addition, it may lead to data inconsistency; that is, the various copies of the same data may no longer agree. For example, a changed student address may be reflected in the Music department records but not elsewhere in the system. Difficulty in accessing data. Suppose that one of the university clerks needs to find out the names of all students who live within a particular postal-code area. The clerk asks the data-processing department to generate such a list. Because the designers of the original system did not anticipate this request, there is no application program on hand to meet it. There is, however, an application program to generate the list of all students. Data isolation. Because data are scattered in various files, and files may be in different formats, writing new application programs to retrieve the appropriate data is difficult. Integrity problems. The data values stored in the database must satisfy certain types of consistency constraints. Suppose the university maintains an account for each department, and records the balance amount in each account. Suppose also that the university requires that the account balance of a department may never fall below zero. Developers enforce these constraints in the system by adding appropriate code in the various application programs. However, when new constraints are added, it is difficult to change the programs to enforce them. The problem is compounded when constraints involve several data items from different files. 8 Atomicity problems. A computer system, like any other device, is subject to failure. In many applications, it is crucial that, if a failure occurs, the data be restored to the consistent state that existed prior to the failure. Consider a program to transfer $500 from the account balance of department A to the account balance of department B. If a system failure occurs during the execution of the program, it is possible that the