RELATIONAL DATABASES

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A relational database is a collection of time-varying, normalized relations of assorted degrees.
The following intiutitve correspondence can be made:
1. A relation is a file
2. Each file contains only one record type
3. The records have no particular order
4. Every field is single-valued
5. The records have a unique identifying field or composite field, called the primary key field.
A relational database consists of a collection of tables.
All data values are atomic. No repeating groups are allowed.
A relational database is a pointerless database, User does not see or is made aware of pointers.

Relational Database Concepts

Relation
Tuple
Attribute
Cardinality
Degree
Primary key
Domain

Equivalent Database Concepts

Relation <-> Table
Tuple <-> Row or record
Attribute <-> Column or field
Cardinality <-> Number of rows
Degree <-> Number of columns
Primary key <-> Unique identifier
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Domain <-> Pool of legal values

DOMAINS
A domain is a named set of scalar values, all of the same type.
Example 1: Domain of P# is the set of character strings of length 6.
Example 2: Domain of WEIGHT is the set of small integers less than 10,000.
Example 3: Domain of QTY is the set of integers less than one billion.
Therefore, a "domain" is a "data type".

DOMAINS
Domains (or data types) can be used to impose semantic constraints.
Example 1:
SELECT P.*, SP.*
FROM P, SP
WHERE P.P# = SP.P# ;
The comparison in the conditional clause is sensible.
Example 2:
SELECT P.*, SP.*
FROM P, SP
WHERE P.WEIGHT = SP.QTY ;
The comparision involves two attributes of different types, and therefore should not be allowed.

RELATIONS
A relation R on a collection of domains D1, D2, ..., Dn, consists of two parts: a "heading" and a "body".
The heading consists of a fixed set of attribute-domain pairs,
{ (A1:D1),(A2:D2), ... , (An,Dn) }
The heading is also called the schema.
The body consists of a time-varying set of tuples, where each tuple consists of a set of attribute-value pairs,
{ (A1:vi1), (A2:vi2),..., (An:vin) }
and i = 1, 2, ..., m.
The body is also called the instance.

RELATIONS
In the above, n is the degree of the relation and m is the cardinality of the relation.
A relation R can be considered as a variable.
The heading of a relation is the "type" of the variable R.
The type of R is (D1,D2,...,Dn).
The body of a relation is the "value" of the variable R.
The value of R is a subset of the Cartesian Product of D1, D2, ..., Dn.

AN EXAMPLE OF A RELATION
The heading of R is (S#, SNAME, STATUS, CITY )
This is a shorthand notation for { (S#:S#), (SNAME:NAME), (STATUS:STATUS), (CITY,CITY) }
The body of R is a subset of the product of the underlying domains.
A typical tuple is an element of this product of domains.
( S1, Smith, 20, London )
This is a shorthand notation for { (S#: S1), (SNAME: SMith), (STATUS: 20), (CITY: London) }

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CARTESIAN PRODUCT OF DOMAINS

Suppose the domain of S# is {1,2,3} and the domain of NAME is {Smith, Doe}
The Cartesian Product of the two domains is denoted by
S# x NAME
The Cartesian Product is:
{(1,Smith), (1, Doe), (2,Smith), (2,Doe), (3,Smith), (3, Doe) }
Later we will use the Cartesian Product to explain "equijoin" and "natural join".

PROPERTIES OF RELATIONS
P1: There are no duplicate tuples.
P2: Tuples are unordered.
P3: Attributes are unordered.
P4: All attribute values are atomic.
*Notice the implementation of a relational database system often deviates from the above properties (which ones?).

KINDS OF RELATIONS
Base relations: The real relations. Called "base table" in SQL.
Views: The virtual relations. A view is a named, derived relation.
Snapshots: A snapshot is a real, not virtual, named derived relation.
Query results: The final output relation from a specified query. It may not be named and has no permanent existence.
Temporary relations: A nonpermanent named derived relation.

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