Database

Technologies
Definition: Data consists of a series of facts or statements that
may have been collected, stored, processed and/or manipulated
but have not been organized or placed into context. When data is
organized, it becomes information. Information can be processed
and used to draw generalized conclusions or knowledge.
Uses of data in computing

Raw data are numbers, characters, images or other outputs from

devices to convert physical quantities into symbols, in a very
broad sense. Such data are typically further processed by a
human or input into a computer, stored and processed there, or
transmitted (output ) to another human or computer. Raw data is
a relative term; data processing commonly occurs by stages, and
the "processed data" from one stage may be considered the "raw
data" of the next.
Definition: A database is a collection of information organized
into interrelated tables of data and specifications of data objects.
Description.

.
Database Management System :
A DBMS can be an extremely complex set of software programs
that controls the organization, storage and retrieval of data
(fields, records and files) in a database. It also controls the
security and integrity of the database. The DBMS accepts
requests for data from the application program and instructs the
operating system to transfer the appropriate data.
When a DBMS is used, information systems can be changed
much more easily as the organization's information requirements
change. New categories of data can be added to the database
without disruption to the existing system.

Data security prevents unauthorised users from viewing or

updating the database. Using passwords, users are allowed access
to the entire database or subsets of the database, called
subschemas (pronounced "sub-skeema"). For example, an
employee database can contain all the data about an individual
employee, but one group of users may be authorized to view only
payroll data, while others are allowed access to only work history
and medical data.
The DBMS can maintain the integrity of the database by not
allowing more than one user to update the same record at the same
time. The DBMS can keep duplicate records out of the database;
for example, no two customers with the same customer numbers
(key fields) can be entered into the database.
Database Query Languages and report writers allow users to
interactively interrogate the database and analyse its data.
Database application
A database application is a type of computer application
dedicated to managing a database. Database applications span a
huge variety of needs and purposes, from small user-oriented
tools such as an address book, to huge enterprise-wide systems
for tasks like accounting.
The term "database application" usually refers to software
providing a user interface to a database. The software that
actually manages the data is usually called a Database
Management System (DBMS) or (if it is embedded) a database
engine.
Examples of database applications include MySQL, Microsoft
Access, Oracle, Informix, Sybase etc.
A data model is a model that describes in an abstract way how
data is represented in an information system or a database..
In general it describes the following aspects:

Structure: defines what the structure of the representation is.

This should not only specify how data is represented but
also how a schema can be specified that defines the
structure of the data in a specific user domain.
Integrity: provides a language for the definition of rules that
restrict which instances of the defined structure are allowed.

Manipulation: provides a language in which updates of the data

can be expressed.

Querying: provides a language in which the data can be queried.

An example is the relational model in which all data is represented

by mathematical relations (or, to be precise, a slightly generalized
version thereof). It furthermore defines a set of specific constraints
(candidate keys, foreign keys) and a general language for
specifying constraints (first-order logic), and for manipulations
and querying the data the relational algebra,, tupule calculus and
domain calculus are introduced.
Types Of Traditional Data
Models :
1.Hierarchal
2.Network
3.Relational
A hierarchical database is a kind of DBMS that links records
together in a tree data structure such that each record type has
only one owner, e.g. an order is owned by only one customer.
Hierarchical structures were widely used in the first mainframe
database management systems. However, due to their restrictions,
they often cannot be used to relate structures that exist in the real
world.
Hierarchical relationships between different types of data can
make it very easy to answer some questions, but very difficult to
answer others. If one-to-many relationship is violated (e.g., a
patient can have more than one physician) then the hierarchy
becomes a network.
Terms Used

•Field - smallest unit of data

•Segment - groups of fields; nodes of the tree structure
•Data base record - a collection of related segments; a
particular tree structure
•Data base - composed of database records
•Data base description - how data base records are
defined; set of assembly-language macro instructions
•Root - first segment
•Sequence field - one field in each segment used to order
the occurrences of a given type
Some Hierarchal DBMS :
Adabas is an inverted list database management system owned
by Software AG. It is used in applications that require very high
volumes of data processing or in OLAP.

IMS began as a hierarchical database designed by IMS for

Rockwell for the Appolo Programs. It was used to track the bill
of materials for the Saturn V.
IMS is still running thirty five years later and over time has seen
some interesting developments as IBM S/360 technology
developed into the current z/OS operating system.
A network model DBMS has a more flexible structure than the
Hierarchal model , but pays for it in processing time and
specialization of types. Some Object –Oriented Database systems
use a general network model, but most have some hierarchal
limitations.
The neural network is an important modern example of a network
database - a large number of similar simple processing units,
analogous to neurons in the human brain, 'learn' the differences
and similarities between a number of inputs. At any one time the
'weights' assigned to different connections between layers of
neuron-like processing units constitute a set of assertions about
what is most closely related to what.
The relational model for management of a database is a data
model based on predicate and set theory .
The relational model was the first formal database model. After it
was defined, formal models were made to describe hierarchical
databases (the hierarchical model,) and network databases (the
network model). Hierarchical and network databases existed
before relational databases, but were only given formal models
after the relational model was defined.
The relational model was invented by Dr. Ted Codd and
subsequently maintained and developed by Chris Dateand Hugh
Darwen ,, as a general model of data. In The Third Manifesto
(1995) they show how the relational model can be extended with
object oriented features without compromising its fundamental
principles.
The standard language for relational databases, SQL, is only
vaguely reminiscent of the mathematical model. Usually it is
adopted, despite its restrictions, because it is far and away more
popular than any other database language.
The fundamental assumption of the relational model is that all
data is represented as mathematical relational, i.e., a subset of
the Cartesian product of n sets. In the mathematical model
(unlike SQL), reasoning about such data is done in two-valued
predicate logic (that is, without a null value), meaning there are
two possible evolutions for each proposition: either true or false.
The data is operated upon by means of a relational calculus and
algebra.
The relational data model permits the designer to create a
consistent logical model of the information to be stored. This
logical model can be refined through a process of database
normalization. A database built on the pure relational model
would be entirely normalized. The access plans and other
implementation and operation details are handled by the DBMS
engine, and should not be reflected in the logical model. This
contrasts with common practice for SQL DBMSs in which
performance tuning often requires changes to the logical model.
The basic relational building block is the domain, or datatype. A
tuple is a set of attributes, which are ordered pairs of domain
and value. A relvar (relation variable) is an unordered set of
ordered pairs of domain and name, which serves as the header
for a relation. A relation is an unordered set of tuples. Although
these relational concepts are mathematically defined, they
correspond loosely to traditional database concepts. A relation
is similar to the traditional concept of table. A tuple is similar to
the concept of row.
The basic principle of the relational model is theinformation is
represented by data values in relations. Thus, the relvars are not
related to each other at domain in several relvars, and if one
attribute is dependent on another, this dependencyis enforced
through referential integrity .
Example Database
An idealized, very simple example of a description of some relvars
and their attributes:
Customer(Customer ID, Tax ID, Name, Address, City, State, Zip,
Phone)
Order(Order No, Customer ID, Invoice No, Date Placed, Date
Promised, Terms, Status)
Order Line(Order No, Order Line No, Product Code, Qty)
Invoice(Invoice No, Customer ID, Order No, Date, Status)
Invoice Line(Invoice No,Line No,Product Code, Qty Shipped)
In this design we have five relvars: Customer, Order, Order Line,
Invoice, and Invoice Line. The bold, underlined attributes are
candidate keys. The non-bold, underlined attributes are
foreign keys.
Usually one candidate key is arbitrarily chosen to be called the
primary key and used in preference over the other candidate
keys, which are then called alternate keys.
A candidate key is a unique identifier enforcing that no tuple will
be duplicated; this would make the relation into something else,
namely a bag, by violating the basic definition of a set. A key can
be composite, that is, can be composed of several attributes.
Below is a tabular depiction of a relation of our example
Customer relvar; a relation can be thought of as a value that can
be attributed to a relvar.
[Top]
Example: Customer Relation