Chapter 5

Database Concepts
Why Study Databases?
 Databases have incredible value to businesses.
 Very important technology for supporting operations.
 Vastly superior to file processing systems
 Businesses cannot survive without quality data
about their
 internal operations and
 external environment.
Foundation Data Concepts
Abstract Concepts
 Entity – person, place, object or event

– stored as a record or a table row

 Attribute – characteristic of an entity

– stored as field or table column

Foundation Data Concepts
Large
Database Concepts
 Database – a collection of related tables
 Tables – a collection of related records
– collection of related entities
 Record – collection of fields (table row)
–represents an entity
 Field – collection of characters (table column)
– represents an attribute
 Character – single alphabetic, numeric or other symbol

Small
Fields
 Characters “B R E I M E R” form a field

Last Name
Breimer

 A field is an attribute of an entity

Records
 A bunch of fields form a record

First Name Last Name Sex Weight

Eric Breimer Yes 263

 A record is an entity
Tables
 A bunch of records forms a table

First Name Last Name Sex Age

Eric Breimer M 30
Jeff Albert M 22
Jackie Pizzo F 21
 A table is a group of related entities
Databases
 A bunch of tables form a database

Customer Table Order Table

Product Table

 A database can represent a single

business or an entire market
Databases
 But, databases are not just a bunch of
tables Orders
OID CID PID Quantity
001 508 199 500,000
002 508 201 2
003 510 201 1

Customers Products
CID FName LName Address PID Description Cost
508 Eric Breimer ... 199 Viagra $45.99
509 Andrew Zych ... 200 Tooth Paste $2.58
510 Greg Smith ... 201 Hair Gel $5.99

 A database also includes relationships

between the different tables
 Chapter 5
Relationships & Queries in
Databases
Types of Relationships
ThingA ThingB
One to One Relationship
 Examples? Man Woman
 Analysis Technique Married
 Consider ThingA and ThingB
 Can ThingA be related to more than one ThingB?
 Can ThingB be related to more than one ThingA?
 If the two answers are NO, then it is a one to one
relationship.
Types of Relationships
Student
Faculty Student
One to Many Student
 Examples? Advises
 Analysis Technique
Get Advisement
 Consider ThingA and ThingB
 Can ThingA be related to more than one ThingB?
 Can ThingB be related to more than one ThingA?
 If only one answer is yes, then you have a one to
many relationship
Types of Relationships student takes course

Student
Course Student
Many to Many Course Student
 Examples? Student
 Analysis Technique
course has a student
 Consider ThingA and ThingB
 Can ThingA be related to more than one ThingB?
 Can ThingB be related to more than one ThingA?
 If the answers are yes and yes, then the relationship
is many to many.
How to Model Relationships
Orders
OID CID PID Quantity
001 508 199 500,000
002 508 201 2
003 510 201 1

Customers Products
CID FName LName Address PID Description Cost
508 Eric Breimer ... 199 Viagra $45.99
509 Andrew Zych ... 200 Tooth Paste $2.58
510 Greg Smith ... 201 Hair Gel $5.99
Find the name and hire date of the manager working on the
sales manual project
Traditional File Processing Sucks
File Processing:
 Data is organized, stored, and processed
in independent files of data records
Problems of
File Processing
 Data Redundancy –
 duplicate data requires
update to many files

 Lack of Integration –
 data stored in
separate files
hard to combine data

 Data Dependence –
 changing the file format requires changing the program…
Database Management Approach
 Consolidates data records into one CENTRAL
database that can be accessed by many
different application programs.
Database Management Software
(DBMS)

Definition:
 Software that controls the creation,
maintenance, and use of databases
DBMS Software Components
 Database Definition
 Language and graphical tools to define
entities, relationships, integrity constraints,
and authorization rights
 Application Development
 Graphical tools to develop menus, data entry
forms, and reports
DBMS Software Components
 Transaction Processing
 Controls to prevent interference from
simultaneous users and
 Controls to recover lost data after a failure
 Database Tuning
 Tools to monitor and improve database
performance
Database Interrogation
Definition:
 Capability of a DBMS to report information from the
database in response to end users’ requests

 Query Language – allows easy, immediate access

to ad hoc data requests

 Report Generator - allows quick, easy

specification of a report format for information users
have requested
Natural Language vs. SQL
Queries
Schemas

Schema - A description Subschema – describes

of the database a subset of the database
and which users have
access to this subset
Data Definition Language
 Language Used to
describe Schemas
and Subschemas
 Describes
relationships between
different data
 Provides a Logical
view of the data
Data Dictionary Entry
 A more detailed description of the data in
a database
 Specifies data types
and ranges
 Assists programmers in
understanding the data
Physical vs. Logical
 DBMS concentrate on
Physical access to
the underlying tables
 Concurrency control
 Query’s
 Creating/deleting
tables
Physical vs. Logical
 MIS systems are
(Logically) interface
with a DBMS
 monthly reports
 charts
 automated inquiries
Application Development
 Today, even non-technical staff can use
tools to build little programs that use a
database.
 Database Management Systems have all
kinds of tools to develop custom application
programs and interfaces.
 Example: The College’s MIS (Banner) is
actually an application built on top of a
Oracle Database.