Database Management Systems

(3:0:0)

Sub Code: 21IS4C04

Text Book:
 Fundamentals of Database Systems
- Elmasri and Navathe, Addison Wesley, 7th Ed.

Reference books:

 Database Management Systems:

Raghu Ramakrishnan and Johannes Gehrke,
McGraw-Hill, 3rd Edition, 2014.

 Database System Concepts : Silberschatz,

Korth and Sudharshan, 7th Edition,
Mc-GrawHill, 2022.
Introduction to Database
 Data
 Data is raw fact or figures or entity.
 When activities in the organization takes place, the
effect of these activities need to be recorded which
is known as Data.

 Information
 Processed data is called information.
 The purpose of data processing is to generate the
information required for carrying out the activities.
Why do we need a database?
 Keep records of our:
 Clients
 Staff
 Volunteers
 To keep a record of activities
and interventions;
 Keep sales records;
 Develop reports;
 Perform research
 Longitudinal tracking
Database
 Database may be defined in simple terms as a
collection of data
 A database is a collection of related data.

 Databases are used every where.

 The database can be of any size and of varying
complexity.
 A database may be generated and maintained
manually or it may be computerized.
 Ex: Amazon.com – commercial db
2 terabytes (a terabyte is 1012 bytes worth of
storage) and is stored on 200 different
Why Study Databases?

 Databases are useful

 Many computing applications deal with large
amounts of information
 Database systems give a set of tools for storing,
searching and managing this information

 Databases in CS/IS
 Basic concepts and skills with database systems
are part of the skill set you will be assumed to
have as a CS/IS graduate
Database Management System

 A Database Management System (DBMS) is a

collection of program that enables user to create
and maintain a database.

 The term database is used as shorthand to

DBMS.

 Ex: Proprietary - MS Access, MS SQL Server,

Oracle, DB2 (IBM), Sybase.
Open Source: MySQL, PostgreSQL
Types of Databases
 Non-relational databases
1. Place information in field
categories that we create so that
information is available for
sorting and disseminating the
way we need it.
2. The data in a non-relational
database, is limited to that
program and cannot be extracted
and applied to a number of other
software programs, or other
database files within a school or
administrative system.
3. The data can only be "copied
and pasted.“
Example: a spread sheet
 Relational databases
1. Here fields can be used in a
number of ways (and can be of
variable length), provided that
they are linked in tables.
2. It is developed based on a
database model that provides
for logical connections among
files (known as tables) by
including identifying data from
one table in another table
 Database: Applications

Databases are widely used. Here are some

representative applications:

1. Banking: for customer information, accounts,

loans, and banking transaction.
2. Airlines: For reservation and schedule
information. (first to use DB)
3. Universities: For student information, course
registrations, and grades.
4. Credit card transaction: For purchase on credit
cards and generation of monthly statements.
5. Telecommunication: for keeping records of calls
made, generating monthly bills, maintaining
balances on prepaid calling cards, ..
6. Sales:
7. Manufacturing:
8.Human resource: For information about
employees, salaries, payroll taxes, benefits and
for generation of paychecks.
Etc…
What the DBMS does ?
 Provides users with:
- Data definition language (DDL)
- Data manipulation language (DML)
- Data control language (DCL)

Often these are all the same language

 DBMS provides:
- Persistence
- Concurrency
- Integrity
- Security
- Data independence
Database Systems
 The database and DBMS software together called
as a database system.

 A database system consists of

- Data (the database) - Software
- Hardware - Users

 Database systems allow users to

- Store
- Update
- Retrieve
- Organise
- Protect their data.
 Selecting a database system: Need Analysis

The needs analysis process will be specific to your organization

but, at a minimum, should answer the following questions:
 How many records we will warehouse and for how long?

 Who will be using the database and what tasks will they
perform?
 How often will the data be modified? Who will make these
modifications?
 Who will be providing IT support for the database?

 What hardware is available? Is there a budget for purchasing

additional hardware?
 Who will be responsible for maintaining the data?

 Will data access be offered over the Internet? If so, what level
of access should be supported?
 Chapter 1

Introduction
Basic Definitions
Database: A collection of related data.

Data: Known facts that can be recorded and have an

implicit meaning.

Mini-world: Some part of the real world about which

data is stored in a database. For example, student
grades and transcripts at a university.

Database Management System (DBMS): A software

package/ system to facilitate the creation and
maintenance of a computerized database.

Database System: The DBMS software together with

the data itself. Sometimes, the applications are also
included.
Typical DBMS Functionality

 Define a database : in terms of data types,

structures and constraints.

 Construct or Load the Database on a

secondary storage medium.

 Manipulating the database : querying,

generating reports, insertions, deletions and
modifications to its content
 Concurrent Processing and Sharing by a set
of users and programs – yet, keeping all data
valid and consistent

 Other features:
 Protection or Security measures to prevent
unauthorized access
 Presentation and Visualization of data
Example of a Database
 Mini-world for the example: Part of a
UNIVERSITY environment.
 Some mini-world entities:
 STUDENTs
 COURSEs
 SECTIONs (of COURSEs)
 (academic) DEPARTMENTs
 INSTRUCTORs

 Note: The above could be expressed in the

ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP data model.
Fig 1.2: Sample database
 Some mini-world relationships:

 SECTIONs are of specific COURSEs

 STUDENTs take SECTIONs
 COURSEs have prerequisite COURSEs
 INSTRUCTORs teach SECTIONs
 COURSEs are offered by DEPARTMENTs
 STUDENTs major in DEPARTMENTs
Main Characteristics of the Database Approach

 Self-describing nature of a database system

 Insulation between programs and data

 Support of multiple views of the data

 Sharing of data and multiuser transaction

processing
Main Characteristics of the Database....
1. Self-describing nature of a database system:
 The database system contains the database and a
complete definition or description of the database
structure and constraints. This definition is stored in
the DBMS catalog,
 The information stored in the catalog is called meta-
data.
 This allows the DBMS software to work with different
databases. (ex: university, banking, company etc.,)
 The catalog is used by the DBMS software and also
by database users who need information about the
database structure.
 In traditional file processing, data definition is
typically part of the application programs
themselves.
- Programs are constrained to work with only
one specific database, whose structure is
declared in the application programs.

 Whereas file-processing software can access

only specific databases, DBMS software can
access diverse databases by extracting the
database definitions from the catalog and using
these definitions.
2. Insulation between programs and data:
 In traditional file processing, the structure of data file
is embedded in the application programmes, so any
changes to the structure of a file may require
changing all programs that access that file.
 By contrast, DBMS access programs do not require
such changes in most cases. The structure of data
file is stored in the DBMS catalog separately from
the access programmes.
 DBMS allows changing data storage structures and
operations without having to change the DBMS
access programs. This property is called program-
data independence.
 For example, a file access program may be
written in such a way that it can access only
STUDENT records of the structure shown in
Figure 1.4
 Program-operation independence:
- In some types of db sys, users can define
operations on data as part of the db definitions.
- An operation is specified in two parts:
- Interface – includes operation name and data
types of its arguments(or parameters)
- Implementation – a implementation of operation
specified separately
- can be changed without
affecting the interface
 User application programs can operate on the data
by invoking these operations through their names
and arguments, regardless of how the operations
are implemented. This is termed as program-
operation independence.

 The characteristic that allows program-data

independence and program-operation
independence is called data abstraction.

 Data Abstraction: A data model is used to hide

storage details and present the users with a
conceptual view of the database.
Ex: Fig 1.2, Fig 1.3, Fig 1.4
3. Support of multiple views of the data:

 Each user may see a different view of the

database, which describes only the data of
interest to that user.

 View-May be a subset of the database or it may

contain virtual data that is derived from the
database files but is not explicitly stored.
1. one user of the database of may be interested only in accessing and printing
the transcript of each student.
2. second user, who is interested only in checking that students have taken all the
prerequisites of each course for which they register, may require the view
4. Sharing of data and multiuser transaction
processing:
- Allowing a set of concurrent users to retrieve
and to update the database.
- Concurrency control within the DBMS
guarantees that each transaction is correctly
executed or completely aborted.
- OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is a
major part of database applications.
ex: allotment of seats in reservation sys.

 A Fundamental role of multiuser DBMS s/w is to

ensure that concurrent transaction operate
correctly and efficiently.
 A transaction is an executing program or process
that includes one or more database accesses, such
as reading or updating of database records.
 Each transaction is supposed to execute a logically
correct database access if executed in its entirety
without interference from other transactions.
 The DBMS must enforce several transaction
properties. The isolation property ensures that each
transaction appears to execute in isolation from
other transactions, even though hundreds of
transactions may be executing concurrently. The
atomicity property ensures that either all the
database operations in a transaction are executed
or none are.
Characteristics of DBMS summary
 Self-describing nature of a database system
 Catalog, metadata
 Insulation between programs and data and data
abstraction
 Program-data independence
 Program-operation independence
 Data abstraction
 Support of multiple views of the data
 Views
 Sharing of data and multi-user transaction processing
 Concurrency control software
 OLTP-Online transaction processing
 Transaction – process that includes one or more db
accesses
Database Users
Users may be divided into:

1. Those who actually use and control the

content (called “Actors on the Scene”) and

2. Those who enable the database to be

developed and the DBMS software to be
designed and implemented (called
“Workers Behind the Scene”).
Actors on the scene:

Categories:

 Database Administrators
 Database Designers
 End Users
 System Analysts and Application
Programmers (Software Engineers)
Actors on the scene

1.Database administrators: (DBAs)

- Responsible for authorizing access to the database

- For co-ordinating and monitoring its use,
- Acquiring software, and hardware resources
- Controlling its use and monitoring efficiency of
operations.
- Accountable for problems such as breach of security
or poor sys response time.
- In large organizations, assisted by a staff
2.Database Designers:

 Responsible for identifying the data to be stored in

the database.

 For choosing appropriate structure and

constraints to represent and store the data.

 They must communicate with the db users and

understand their needs and to create a design
that meets their requirements.

 The final database must be capable of supporting

the requirements of all user groups.
3.End-users:

- they use the data for queries,

- reports and
- some of them actually update the database
content.

Categories of end users:

 Casual end users

 Naïve or parametric end users

 Sophisticated end users

 Standalone end users

Categories of End-users
 Casual end-user :
 access database occasionally when needed

 Need (may) different information each time

 Use a sophisticated db query language to

specify their requests.

 Naïve or Parametric end-user :

 Constantly query and update the db.

 Use standard types of queries and updates

called “canned transactions” . – carefully
programmed & tested
Ex: Are bank-tellers or reservation clerks.
 Sophisticated end-user :
 includes business analysts, scientists, engineers,

others thoroughly familiar with the system

capabilities.
 Many use tools in the form of software packages

that work closely with the stored database.

 Stand-alone end-user :
 Maintain personal databases

 Use ready-made program packages the provide

easy-to-use menu-based or graphics-based

interfaces.
4. Application programmers and System Analysts
(Software engineers)
 System analysts:
Determine the requirements of end users (naïve &

parametric)
Develop specifications for canned transactions

that meet these requirements.

 Application programmer:
Implement the specifications as programs

Then they test, debug, document and maintain

these canned transactions.

Software engineers should be familiar with the capabilities
provided by the DBMS to accomplish their tasks.
Workers behind the Scene
The people who are associated with the design,
development and operation of the DBMS software and
system environment

These persons are typically not interested in the db

content itself

Categories:
1. DBMS system designers and implementers
2. Tool developers
3. Operators and Maintenance personnel
1. DBMS system designers and implementers:

 Design and implement the DBMS modules and

interfaces as a software package.

 Modules – for implementing the catalog,

processing query language, processing the
interface, controlling concurrency, handling
data recovery and security.

 The DBMS must interface with other system

software such as the O.S and compilers for
various programming languages.
2. Tool developers – Design and implement
tools.

Tools – The s/w package that facilitate db

modeling and design, db sys design &
improved performance.
- Optional packages that are often
purchased separately.
- Include packages for db design,
performance monitoring , GI, Simulation
etc.,
3. Operators and Maintenance personnel
(System Administration Personnel)

- Are responsible for the actual running and

maintenance of the hardware and software
environment for the db system.
 Advantages of Using the Database Approach
 1. Controlling Redundancy:
- Redundancy - Multiple entry of same data
- Solve the problems of
 First, there is the need to perform a single logical update
multiple times: once for each file. This leads to duplication
of effort.
 Second, storage space is wasted when the same data is
stored repeatedly, and this problem may be serious for
large databases.
 Third, files that represent the same data may become
inconsistent because the updates are applied
independently by each user group.
 2. Restricting unauthorized Access:
- Users or user groups are given a/c nos.
protected by passwords.
- DBMS should provide a security &
authorization subsystem for DBA to create A/Cs
and specify A/C restriction.
 3. Providing persistent storage for program
objects:

 Reason for Object-oriented database system.

- Programming languages have complex data
structures, such as record types in Pascal,
class definition in C++ or Java.

 The values of program variables are discarded

once a program terminates, unless the
programmer explicitly stores them in permanent
files.

 Often involves converting these complex

structures into a format suitable for file storage.
- OOdb sys are compatible with programming
languages such as C++ & Java.

- DBMS s/w automatically performs any necessary

conversions.

- Hence, a complex object in C++ can be stored

permanently in an OODBMS.

- Traditional DB sys often suffered from the

impedance-mismatch problem.
since the data structure provided by the DBMS
were incompatible with the programming language’s
data structures.
- OOdb sys typically offer data structure compatibility
with one or more ObjOrienProgramming language
4. Providing Storage structures for efficient query
processing
 Db sys must provide capabilities for efficiently
executing queries and updates.

 Must provide data structures to speed up disk

search for the desired records.
 Indexes – based on tree data structure
 Buffering module: maintains parts of the db in main
memory buffers.

 The Query processing and optimization module of

the DBMS is responsible for choosing an efficient
query execution plan for each query based on the
existing storage structure.
 5. Providing backup and recovery services
 Must provide facilities for recovering from hardware and
software failures.
 The backup and recovery subsystem of the DBMS is
responsible for recovery.

6. Providing multiple user interfaces

• DBMS should provide a variety of user interface, because
many types of users use a db.
• These include query language for casual users,
programming language interfaces for application
programmers, forms & command codes for parametric
users, etc.,
• Menu-based+ form style=GUI, Also Web GUI
7. Representing complex relationships among data
- A db may include numerous varieties of data that are
interrelated in many ways.
- DBMS must have the capability to represent a variety of
complex relationships among the data, to define new
relationships as they arise, and to retrieve and update
related data easily and efficiently. (Ex: Fig 1)
8. Enforcing integrity constraints
- DBMS should provide capabilities for defining and enforcing
constraints.
Ex: specifying a data type for each data item, constraint
specifying uniqueness on data item values
- It is the responsibility of db designers to identify integrity
constraints during the db design.
Fig 1: Sample database
9. Permitting Inferencing and Actions using rules:

 Some db syss provide capabilities for defining deduction

rules for inferecning new information from the stored db
facts. Such sys are called deductive db sys.
 Ex: Eligibility criteria
 Triggers: Is a form of a rule activated by updates to the
table, which results in performing some additional
operations to some other tables sending messages and
so on.

 Stored procedures: Procedures used to enforce rules.

They become a part of the overall db definition & are
invoked appropriately when certain conditions are met.

 Active db sys: Provides more powerful functionalities.

Provides active rules that can automatically initiate
actions when certain events and conditions occur.
Query to compute Everest Books sales information
for the first two days of April 2004
 SELECT OrderInfo.ISBN, Title,
SUM(OrderInfo.Qty) AS Quantity,
SUM(OrderInfo.Qty*OrderInfo.Price) AS Sales
FROM OrderInfo, Orders, Books
WHERE Orderinfo.ISBN=Books.ISBN and
Orderinfo.OrderId=Orders.OrderId AND
ShipDate > = ‘2004-04-01’ and ShipDate <= ‘2004-
04-02’ GROUP BY OrderInfo.ISBN, Title;
Stored Procedure Definition
CREATE PROCEDURE Sales(S Date, E Date)
BEGIN ATOMIC
SELECT OrderInfo.ISBN, Title,
SUM(OrderInfo.Qty) AS Quantity,
SUM(OrderInfo.Qty*OrderInfo.Price) AS Sales
FROM OrderInfo, Orders, Books
WHERE OrderInfo.ISBN = Books.ISBN AND
OrderInfo.OrderId = Orders.OrderId AND
Orders.ShipDate >= S AND
Orders.ShipDate <= E
GROUP BY OrderInfo.ISBN, Title;
END;
 To get the sales information for the first two days
of April, we can now simply call procedure Sales
as follows:

 CALL Sales(’2004-04-01’,’2004-04-02’);
When not to use DBMS:

 Simple, well-defined db applications that are not

expected to change

 No multiple-user access to data

 Initial investment is less on hardware, software

and training (or db is small)
 Chapter -2

Database System Concepts and Architecture

Definition of schema, data model and instances

 Data abstraction : Refers to the suppression of

details of data organization and storage and the
highlighting of the essential features for an
improved understanding of data.

 Data Model:
 A set of concepts to describe

 the structure of a database,

 the operations for manipulating these structures,
 and certain constraints that the database should
obey.
 Types of Data Models: Categorize according to
the types of concepts they use to describe the
database structure.

1. High Level or Conceptual data models.

2. Low Level or Physical data models.

3. Representational or Implementation data models.

1. High-level or conceptual data model:

 Provide concepts that are close to the way

many users perceive data
 Conceptual data models use concepts such as
entities, attributes and relationships
 entity represents a real-world object or concept.
Ex: an employee or a project
 attribute represents some property that
describes an entity Ex: employee’s name or
salary.
 relationship among two or more entities
represents an association among the entities,
 Ex: employee works_on Project
 EX: Entity-Relationship model
2. Low-level or physical data models:

 Provide concepts that describe the details of how

data is stored in the computer by representing
information such as record formats, record
orderings and access paths.
 Access Path is a structure that makes the
search for particular database records efficient.
Ex: Index
 Low level data model is only for Computer
Specialists not for end-user.
Primary
Index
3. Representational (or implementation) data
model:
 It is between High level & Low level data model

 Hide many details of data storage on disk but can

be implemented on a computer system directly.
 Are the models used most frequently in
traditional commercial DBMSs.
Includes widely used relational data
model, legacy data models—the network and
hierarchical models.
 It represent data by using record structures and
hence sometimes called record-based data
models.
The different types of Representational or
implementation data models are:

1. Relational data models.

2. Hierarchical data models.
3. Network data models
4. Object-oriented data Models.

XML data Models.

1. Relational Model:

 The Relational Model uses a collection of

tables to store data and the relationship
among those data.

 Data is extracted by selecting columns and

rows that satisfy user-specified conditions.

 Each table have multiple column and each

column has a unique name .
Consumer_Table
Advantages:

1.The main advantage of this model is its ability to

represent data in a simplified format.

2.The process of manipulating record is simplified

with the use of certain key attributes used to
retrieve data.

3.Representation of different types of relationship

is possible with this model.
2. Hierarchical Model:

 A hierarchical data model is a data model which

the data is organized into a tree like structure.

 The structure allows repeating information using

parent/child relationships: each parent can
have many children but each child only has one
parent.

 All attributes of a specific record are listed under

an entity type.
Hierarchical Model:

 Advantages:

1. The representation of records is done using an ordered

tree, which is natural method of implementation of one–
to-many relationships.

2. Proper ordering of the tree results in easier and faster

retrieval of records.
3. Network Model:

 The data in the network model are represented

by collection of records and relationships
among data are represented by links, which
can be viewed as pointers.
Advantages:

1. Representation of relationship between entities

is implemented using pointers which allows the
representation of arbitrary relationship

2. Data manipulation can be done easily with this

model.
4. Object oriented data model:

 Introduced with growing popularity of the object

oriented programming language C++.
 The object db paradigm allows users to structure,
retrieve and update data in terms of objects in the
application domain.
 Is the dream of the programmer using C++, Java
or some other object-oriented programming
language.
 A standard for object databases called ODMG
object model is proposed.
XML model:

 The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a

text markup language designed in 1996.

 For specifying the syntax of data and electronic

documents.

 Is particularly useful for describing semi-

structured data.

 Used in a wide variety of domains such as

ecommerce, protocols and exchange data and
so on.
Other languages and Protocols related to XML
 Extensible Stylesheet Language(XSL)- can be
used to define how a document should be
rendered for display by a web browser.
 Extensible Stylesheet Language for
Transformation (XSLT)-used to transform one
structure into a different structure.
 Web Service Description Language (WSDL)-
allows for the description web service in XML.
 Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP)- is a
platform independent and programming
language independent protocol for messaging
and remote procedure calls.
Schemas
 Database Schema
 The description of a database.
 Includes descriptions of the database structure,
data types, and the constraints on the database.

 Schema Diagram
 An illustrative display of (most aspects of) a
database schema.

 Schema Construct
 A component of the schema or an object within the
schema, e.g., STUDENT, COURSE.
Example of a Database Schema
Schemas contd…

 Database State
 The actual data stored in a database at a

particular moment in time.

 This includes the collection of all the data in the

database.
 Also called database instance (or occurrence

or snapshot).
 The term instance is also applied to
individual database components, e.g. record
instance, table instance, entity instance
Example of a database state
 Distinction between database schema &
database state
 The database schema changes very infrequently.
 The database state changes every time the
database is updated.
• The DBMS is partly responsible for ensuring that
every state of the database is a valid state—that
is, a state that satisfies the structure and
constraints specified in the schema.

• Hence, specifying a correct schema to the DBMS

is extremely important and the schema must be
designed with utmost care.
 The DBMS stores the descriptions of the
schema constructs and constraints—also called
the meta-data—in the DBMS catalog so that
DBMS software can refer to the schema
whenever it needs to.

 Schema is also called intension.

 State is also called extension.

Three-Schema Architecture
 Proposed to support DBMS characteristics of:
 Program-data independence.
 Support of multiple views of the data.
 Use of catalog to store the db description

 Its goal is to separate the user applications and

the physical database.

 Not explicitly used in commercial DBMS products,

but has been useful in explaining database
system organization
The Three-schema architecture
 Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:

 Internal schema at the internal level to

describe physical storage structures.

 Lowest level of abstraction.

 Typically uses a physical data model.

 Describes the complete details of data

storage and access paths for the database.
 Conceptual schema at the conceptual level
to describe the structure and constraints for
the whole database for a community of users.

 Hides the details of physical storage

structures. Concentrates on describing
entities, data types, relationships, user
operations and constraints.

 Uses a implementation/Representational
data model to describe conceptual schema.
  External schemas at the external level (or
view level) to describe the various user views.

 Each External schemas describes the part

of the db that a particular user group is
interested in and hides the rest of the db
from that user group.
 Uses representational model to implement
external schema.
 The three schema architecture is a convenient
tool with which the user can visualize the
schema levels in a db system.
 Most DBMSs do not separate the three levels
completely and explicitly, but support the three-
schema architecture to some extent.

 In most DBMSs external schemas are specified in

the same data model that describes the conceptual–
level information. Ex: Oracle-SQL

 Some DBMSs allow different data model for external

and Conceptual level
 Ex: Universal Data Base –IBMs DBMS
 Uses Relational model for Conceptual schema

 May use Object-oriented model for external

schema
Mappings: The processes of transforming
requests and results between levels is called
mappings.

 Programs refer to an external schema, and are

mapped by the DBMS to the internal schema for
execution.

 Data extracted from the internal DBMS level is

reformatted to match the user’s external view (e.g.
formatting the results of an SQL query for display
in a Web page)
Data Independence
 Data independence can be defined as the
capacity to change the schema at one level
without changing the schema at next higher
level.

 There are two types of data Independence.

They are:
1. Logical data independence.

2. Physical data independence.

The Three-schema architecture
Logical data independence:
 Is the capacity to change the conceptual schema
without having to change the external schema or
application programs.

 Only the view definition and mapping need to be

changed in a DBMS that support logical data
independence.

 After the conceptual schema undergoes a

logical reorganization, application programs that
reference the external schema constructs must
work as before.
1.2
For example, the
external schema of Figure 1.5(a) should
not be affected by changing the
GRADE_REPORT file (or record type)
shown in Figure 1.2 into the one
shown in Figure 1.6(a).

1.6a

1.5a
 Physical data independence:

 Is the capacity to change the internal schema

without changing the conceptual schema.

 Hence, the external schemas need not be

changed as well.

 Modification at the physical level are

occasionally necessary to improve
performance.
 Ex: By creating additional access structures—to
improve the performance of retrieval or update.
 If the same data as before remains in the
database, we should not have to change the
conceptual schema.
 For example, providing an access path to
improve retrieval speed of section records
(Figure 1.2) by semester and year should not
require a query such as list all sections offered in
fall 2008 to be changed, although the query
would be executed more efficiently by the DBMS
by utilizing the new access path.
 Logical data independence is more difficult
to achieve than physical data independence,
because it allows structural and constraint
changes without affecting application programs

 When a schema at a lower level is changed,

only the mappings between this schema and
higher-level schemas need to be changed in a
DBMS that fully supports data independence.
DBMS Languages

 Types of DBMS languages:

 Data Definition Language (DDL)

 Data Manipulation Language (DML)

 Data Control Language (DCL)

Data Definition Language (DDL)
 Used by the DBA and database designers to specify
the conceptual schema of a database.

 In many DBMSs, the DDL is also used to define

internal and external schemas (views).

 In some DBMSs, separate storage definition

language (SDL) and view definition language
(VDL) are used to define internal and external
schemas.

 Ex: Create, Alter, Drop, Truncate

Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 Used to specify database retrievals and updates.

 DML commands (data sublanguage) can be

embedded in a general-purpose programming
language (host language), such as COBOL, C,
C++, or Java.

 Alternatively, stand-alone DML commands can be

applied directly (called a query language).

 Ex: Insert, Delete, Select, Update

Data Control Language (DCL)
 The DCL language is used for controlling the
access to the table and hence securing the
database.

 DCL is used to provide certain privileges to a

particular user. Privileges are rights to be
allocated.

 The various privileges that can be granted or

revoked are: Select, Insert, Delete, Update,
References, Execute All.
Some of the DCL commands

 COMMIT - save work done

 SAVEPOINT - identify a point in a transaction to

which you can later roll back

 ROLLBACK - restore database to original since

the last COMMIT

 SET TRANSACTION - Change transaction

options like what rollback segment to use
DBMS Interfaces
User friendly interfaces provided by DBMS may include
the following:
Menu-based, for web clients or browsing :
 Present the user with list of options (called menus)
that lead the user through the formulations of a
request.
 No need to memorize the specific commands &
syntax of a query language.
 Pull-down menus are a very popular technique in
web based user interfaces.
 Used in browsing interfaces, which allow a user to
look through the content of db in an exploratory &
unstructured manner.
Form-based interfaces:

 Displays a form to each user.

 User can fill out all of the form entries to insert

data.

 Usually designed and programmed for naive

users as interfaces to canned transactions.

 Many DBMSs have form specification

languages, which are special languages that
help programmers specify such forms.
 Ex: SQL forms, Oracle forms, etc.,
Graphical User Interfaces(GUI):

 Displays a schema to the user in diagrammatic

form. Then user can specify a query by
manipulating the diagram.

 In many cases GUI utilize both menu & forms.

 Most GUIs use a pointing devices such as a

mouse, to pick certain parts of the displayed
schema diagram.
Natural language interface:
 Accept request written in English or some other
language and attempt to understand them.
 Usually has its own schema, which is similar to
the db conceptual schema, as well as a
dictionary of important words.
 Refers to the words in its schema, as well as to
the set of standard words in its dictionary, to
interpret the request.
 The capabilities of natural language interfaces
have not advanced rapidly.
(Ex: Search engine that accept strings of natural
language)
Speech input & output:

 Uses speech as an input query & speech as an

answer to a question or result of a request.

Ex: enquires for telephone directory, flight

arrival/departure, back account information

 Speech i/p is detected using a library of

predefined words and used to set up the
parameters that are supplied to the queries. For
o/p, a similar conversion from text or numbers
into speech takes place.
Interfaces for parametric users:

 System analysts and programmers design and

implement a special interfaces for each class of
naive users. Ex: bank tellers

 Usually a small set of abbreviated commands is

included, with the goal of minimizing the no. of
keystrokes required for each request.

 Ex: Function keys in a terminal can be

programmed to initiate various commands.
Interfaces for the DBA:

 Most database systems contain privileged

commands that can be used only by DBA’s staff.

Ex: Commands for creating accounts,

setting system parameters,
granting a/c authorization,
changing a schema and
reorganizing the storage structure of database.