UNIT I

DATABASE CONCEPTS

1. INTRODUCTION - DATABASE
A database is an organized collection of data. The data are typically
organized to model relevant aspects of reality in a way that supports
processes requiring this information. It is an electronic storage of data. It
stores information and relationship among different things.
Basic terms to examine the structure of a Database
 A person, place, event or item is called an entity.
 Example: Customer, Transaction, Employee, Library, etc.,
 The facts describing an entity are known as data.
 Example: For a Customer, custno, custname, address…, etc., are
maintained in a register which describes the characteristics of the
entity Customer.
 Each entity can be described by its characteristics, which are known
as attributes.
 Example: For a Student, name, regno, class, address etc….
 All the related entities are collected together to form an entity set. An
entity set is given a singular noun.
 Example: The student entity set contains data about student only. All
related entity in the STUDENT entity set is student. Similarly a
company keeps track all of its employees is an entity set called
EMPLOYEES. The EMPLOYEE entity set does not contain about the
company’s customers, because it would not make any sense.
 A database is a collection of entity sets.
 Example: A college database may include entities such as student,
faculty, course, term, office, building, exam etc., the entities in a
database are likely to interact with other entities.
 The interactions between the entity sets are called relationship.
 Example: A faculty member teaches in a building, so the relationship
between FACULTY and BUILDING is teaches.