Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B.
Navathe
CHAPTER 1
Databases and Database Users
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe Slide 1- 2
Course : Database Fundamentals.
Instructor: Mr. Abdullah Al-Mukhtar.
Grades:
20% Lab.
20% Mid + Project.
60% Final Exam.
Ref:
Fundamentals of Database Systems. 7th edition by
Ramez Elmasri & Shamkant B. Navathe
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe
Topics to be Covered
Introduction to Databases. CH 1&2
Conceptual Data Modeling and Database [Link] 3&4
Data Modeling Using the Entity Relationship (ER)
Model.
The Relational Data Model and SQL(Structured Query
Language).CH 9
The Relational Data Model and Relational Database
Constraints.
Basic SQL
Database Design Theory and Normalization. CH 14
Copyright © 2017 Ramez Elmasri and Shamkant B. Navathe
Types of Databases and Database
Applications
Traditional Applications:
Numeric and Textual Databases
More Recent Applications:
Multimedia Databases
Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
Biological and Genome Databases
Data Warehouses
Mobile databases
Real-time and Active Databases
First part of book focuses on traditional applications
A number of recent applications are described later in the
book (for example, Chapters 24,25,26,27,28,29)
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Recent Developments (1)
Social Networks started capturing a lot of
information about people and about
communications among people-posts, tweets,
photos, videos in systems such as:
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Linked-In
All of the above constitutes data
Search Engines- Google, Bing, Yahoo : collect their
own repository of web pages for searching purposes
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Recent Developments (2)
New Technologies are emerging from the so-
called non-database software vendors to manage
vast amounts of data generated on the web:
Big Data storage systems involving large clusters
of distributed computers (Chapter 25)
NOSQL (Not Only SQL) systems (Chapter 24)
A large amount of data now resides on the
“cloud” which means it is in huge data centers
using thousands of machines.
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Impact of Databases and Database
Technology
Businesses: Banking, Insurance, Retail,
Transportation, Healthcare, Manufacturing
Service Industries: Financial, Real-estate, Legal,
Electronic Commerce, Small businesses
Education : Resources for content and Delivery
More recently: Social Networks, Environmental
and Scientific Applications, Medicine and
Genetics
Personalized Applications: based on smart
mobile devices
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Basic Definitions
Database:
A collection of related data.
A database has the following implicit properties:
Represents some aspect of the real world(Miniworld).
Logically coherent collection of data with inherent meaning.
Built for a specific purpose.
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.
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Simplified database system environment
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Typical DBMS Functionality
Define a particular database in terms of its data types, structures, and
constraints
Meta-data
Database definition or descriptive information
Stored by the DBMS in the form of a database catalog or
dictionary
Construct or Load the initial database contents on a secondary storage
medium
Manipulating the database:
Retrieval: Querying, generating reports
Modification: Insertions, deletions and updates to its content
Accessing the database through Web applications
Processing and Sharing by a set of concurrent users and application
programs – yet, keeping all data valid and consistent
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Typical DBMS Functionality
Sharing:
by a set of concurrent users and application programs
– yet, keeping all data valid and consistent
Protection includes:
System protection against hardware or software
malfunction (or crashes)
Security protection
Maintain the database system
Allow the system to evolve as requirements
change over time
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Application Activities Against a
Database
Applications interact with a database by generating
- Queries: that access different parts of data and
formulate the result of a request
- Transactions: that may read some data and
“update” certain values or generate new data and
store that in the database
Applications must not allow unauthorized users to
access data
Applications must keep up with changing user
requirements against the database
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Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data Model)
Mini-world for the example:
Part of a UNIVERSITY environment.
Some mini-world entities:
STUDENTs
COURSEs
SECTIONs (of COURSEs)
(academic) DEPARTMENTs
INSTRUCTORs
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Example of a Database
(with a Conceptual Data Model)
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
Note: The above entities and relationships are typically
expressed in a conceptual data model, such as the
ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP data model (see Chapters 3, 4)
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Example of a simple database
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Main Characteristics of the Database
Approach
Self-describing nature of a database system:
A DBMS catalog stores the description of a particular database (e.g.
data structures, types, and constraints)
The description is called meta-data*.
This allows the DBMS software to work with different database
applications.
Insulation between programs and data:
Called program-data independence.
Allows changing data structures and storage organization without
having to change the DBMS access programs.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Some newer systems such as a few NOSQL systems need no meta-
data: they store the data definition within its structure making it self
describing
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Example of a simplified database catalog
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Main Characteristics of the Database
Approach (continued)
Data Abstraction:
A data model is used to hide storage details and
present the users with a conceptual view of the
database.
Programs refer to the data model constructs rather
than data storage details
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.
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Main Characteristics of the Database
Approach (continued)
Sharing of data and multi-user transaction
processing:
Allowing a set of concurrent users to retrieve from and to
update the database.
Concurrency control within the DBMS guarantees that each
transaction is correctly executed or aborted
Recovery subsystem ensures each completed transaction
has its effect permanently recorded in the database
OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) is a major part of
database applications. This allows hundreds of concurrent
transactions to execute per second.
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Advantages of Using the Database
Approach
Controlling redundancy in data storage and in
development and maintenance efforts.
Sharing of data among multiple users.
Restricting unauthorized access to data. Only the
DBA staff uses privileged commands and facilities.
Providing persistent storage for program Objects
E.g., Object-oriented DBMSs make program objects
persistent– see Chapter 12.
Providing Storage Structures (e.g. indexes) for
efficient Query Processing – see Chapter 17.
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Advantages of Using the Database
Approach (continued)
Providing optimization of queries for efficient
processing.
Providing backup and recovery services.
Providing multiple interfaces to different classes of
users.
Representing complex relationships among data.
Enforcing integrity constraints on the database.
Drawing inferences and actions from the stored
data using deductive and active rules and triggers.
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When not to use a DBMS
Main inhibitors (costs) of using a DBMS:
High initial investment and possible need for additional
hardware.
Overhead for providing generality, security, concurrency
control, recovery, and integrity functions.
When a DBMS may be unnecessary:
If the database and applications are simple, well defined,
and not expected to change.
If access to data by multiple users is not required.
When a DBMS may be infeasible:
In embedded systems where a general purpose DBMS may
not fit in available storage
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When not to use a DBMS
When no DBMS may suffice:
If there are stringent real-time requirements
that may not be met because of DBMS
overhead (e.g., telephone switching systems)
If the database system is not able to handle the
complexity of data because of modeling limitations
(e.g., in complex genome and protein databases)
If the database users need special operations not
supported by the DBMS (e.g., GIS and location
based services).
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