Database Systems - Introduction

ORIE 480
 IT framework

• Develop a concept for representing &

solving the problem.
• Implement the solution to the problem.
• Analyze and interpret the solution results.
• Now, another kind of modeling, very
widely used: Represent an
organization and its activities in a
database.
 Overview of Database Management
• What is:
– Data?
• Raw facts that are described, observed, or measured.
– Information?
• Data that has been organized or prepared
– Knowledge?
• Data/Information/Rules that are used for actual decision
making
– Database?
• A collection of inter-related data.
– Database Management System?
• A collection of programs that define/manipulate/maintain
databases.

From "Database Management Systems, Lecture Notebook, 3rd Edition, Il-Yeol

Song, McGraw-Hill.
 Why a database system?

• Great majority of real-world computer

applications are associated with databases.
• Alternatives (file systems) are unattractive.
– Some reasons:
• Data-program dependence
• Redundancy
• Inconsistency
• Lack of security
• Have to write your own
• If a query has not been foreseen, an expert
programmer is needed
 Data Models
• An abstraction of the data and their associations
• Different Models:
– Hierarchical
– Network
– Relational
– Object-oriented
• Different software implementation for each.
– Why?
• History, needs, and requirements.
– What is the most popular?
• relational systems!
 RDBMSs
(Relational Database Management Systems)

• Commercial/Open Source software

implementations.
– Non-Microsoft/Commercial
• ORACLE, DB2
– Microsoft
• SQL Server, Access
– Open Source
• MySQL
– Pure Python
• Gadfly
 RDBMS' Future/Stability
• Here to stay?
– Absolutely!
• Relational DBMS with SQL is the commercial de
facto standard
• Constantly being improved. Hot research area in
Computer Science
– But…
• Hierarchical and network systems still in use:
performance, cost of conversion
• Object-oriented DBMS: thought to be on the way
big time; SQL will likely stay in some form
 What are the components of a
relational database?
• Database
• Table /
Relation
• Tuple / Record
• Attribute

From “Online Tutorial, IST Solutions Institute, Penn State University

Relational database tables restrictions

• Columns contain the SAME type of data

– columns are static (once defined)
– columns are named e.g., not A, but SSN.
• One value per cell
• One (or more) column(s) contains a unique value
for each row
– PRIMARY KEY
• Rows have the same size (# of columns)
– order of rows is unimportant
– rows are dynamic (when new data is input)
 Levels of Abstraction & Data
Independence

External Schema 1 External Schema 2

• Levels of
Independence
- Logical Conceptual Schema
- Physical
Physical Schema

Disk
 Transaction Management
• A Transaction is a logical unit of access to a DBMS
– It’s a unit, no such thing as half a
transaction!
– Concurrency and Recovery from System
Crashes
– Locks, Write-Ahead Logs and Checkpoints

• Banking, stock market transactions, airline

reservations etc.
 Two Components of a RDBMS

• Data Definition Language (DDL)

– allows you to define the metadata
• Data Manipulation Language (DML)
– allows you to insert/edit/delete data
– allows you to ask questions about the
data
– two major formats:
• Query by Example (QBE)
• Structured Query Language (SQL)
 Example:
The parts-suppliers database
• Three tables:
– S (suppliers)
– P (parts)
– SP (shipments)
 Supplier table
S# SNAME STATUS CITY
S1 Smith 20 London
S2 Jones 10 Paris
S3 Blake 30 Paris
S4 Clark 20 London
S5 Adams 30 Athens

•CONCEPTS:
•Table (and relation)
•Tuple (or record)
•Field, attribute (slot in a record; column in a table)
•Domain (set of permitted values for an attribute)
•Data types (integer, character, date, . . . )
•Data atomicity (one data item per field)
•Key, key field(s) (uniquely identify a record)
 Parts Table
P# PNAME COLOR WEIGHT
P1 Nut Red 12
P2 Bolt Green 17
P3 Screw Blue 17
P4 Screw Red 14
P5 Cam Blue 12
P6 Cog Red 19

•Concepts:
•Ordering on the rows?
•Weight = 17. 17 what? Pounds? Ounces? Tons? Kilograms?
•Why more than one table?
 Shipment Table
S# P# QTY
S1 P1 300
S1 P2 200
S1 P6 100
S2 P1 300
S2 P2 400
S3 P2 200
S4 P2 200
S4 P4 300

•Concepts:
•Two-field key: S#-P#
•Why more than one table?
•How do we answer queries that rely on data in
more than one table?
 Representing the
Suppliers/Parts/Shipments
• Use Access
– let's see…
 Our focus in 480:

• Be able to design and implement “simple”

databases (pursue your managerial insights)
• Be a “power user”. Design and execute
complicated queries.

• Know when to use a database…

 Spreadsheets vs. simple Databases

1. Start typing in data 1. Have to design the

immediately, database first,
2. Little control of 2. Can limit access,
access,
3. Each attribute must
3. Can vary data types,
format, etc., be the same type,
4. Little control of the 4. Total control of an
cells contents, attributes contents,
5. Not great output 5. Great output
features, i.e., only features: labels, etc.,
print the entire sheet. for only certain rows.
 ToDo

• Read: Course pack pages 3-23

• Enroll in CourseInfo
• Remember to show up for your lab section