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Information Technology Course

Introduction to Database
 What is data?

• Data is made up of text, numbers, images and in some cases sounds

which can be processed or stored by a computer. By itself data might
meaningless. In order to understand it, it needs to be interpreted (or
processed) to become information.

• Information is the meaning given to data by the way in which it is

interpreted.
 What is data?

• To illustrate the difference, Ahmed, 2500 and 30 examples of data.

But if we were able to interpret them as the name of a salesman,
Ahmed, his annual basic salary of 2500 EP and his age of 30 years, it
would assume more meaning and could be called information.
Alternatively, the same data could be interpreted in another way.

• It is often helpful to think of data as the raw ingredients of a recipe

which when processed by differing techniques produce different
results.
 What is a database?

A simple definition of a database is:

“A database is a collection of related, logically coherent data

which can be used alone, or combined / related to other data
to provide answers to the user’s question. .”
In normal daily life we make frequent use of databases, and probably
don’t realize it.
Databases touch all aspects of our lives

Examples:
 Banking: all transactions
 Airlines: reservations, schedules
 Universities: registration, grades
 Sales: customers, products, purchases
 Manufacturing: production, stocking, orders
 Human resources: employee records, salaries, ..……
 Scientific data such as biology, etc.
 Spatial data such as maps, travel networks,
 E-commerce : Amazon.com, etc.
 ?
Why Study Databases??

 Usually data is too large to fit into main memory,

and often used by many users
 Datasets increasing in diversity and volume.
 Digital libraries, interactive video, Human Genome
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.
Advantages of databases

1) Reduce data redundancy

2) Increase data consistency (If the same data is stored in more
than one place, then any changes in the data need to occur in
all places that data is stored = updating Data)
3) Increase data integrity and independence from applications
programs
4) Reduce data access , storage, and retrieval costs through use
of host and query languages
5) Improve data security
Database Management System (DBMS)
Definition:
 A Database Management System is a software package/system
that defines, creates and manipulates a database.
 The DBMS also allows controlled access to data in the
database.
 A DBMS is a combination of five components: hardware,
software, data, users and procedures
Database Management System (DBMS)
 Hardware
The hardware is the physical computer system that allows
access to data.
 Software
The software is the actual program that allows users to access,
maintain and update data. In addition, the software controls
which user can access which parts of the data in the database.
 Data
The data in a database is stored physically on the storage
devices. In a database, data is a separate entity from the
software that accesses it.
Database Management System (DBMS)
 Users
In a DBMS, the term users has a broad meaning. We can divide
users into two categories: end users and application programs.
• End users - Normal user and Database Administrator
• Application programs
 Procedures
The last component of a DBMS is a set of procedures or rules
that should be clearly defined and followed by the users of the
database.
Database System ≡ DBMS + Database
 Database architecture
Internal Level
 determines where data is actually
stored on the storage devices.
 This level deals with low-level
access methods and how bytes are
transferred to and from storage
devices.
 In other words, the internal level
interacts directly with the hardware.
 Database architecture
Conceptual Level
 defines the logical view of the data.

 The data model is defined on this

level, and the main functions of the
DBMS, such as queries, are also on
this level.
 The DBMS changes the internal view
of data to the external view that users
need to see.
 The conceptual level frees users from
dealing with the internal level.
 Database architecture
External Level
 interacts directly with the user
(end users or application
programs).
 It changes the data coming from
the conceptual level to a format
and view that is familiar to the
users.
 Database models

 A database model defines the logical design of data also describes

the relationships between different parts of the data.

 In the history of database design, three models have been in use:

• Tree database model

• Network database model

• Distributed database model.

• Relational database model

 Database models

Hierarchical (Tree) database model

In the hierarchical model, data is organized as an upside down
tree.
Each entity has only one parent but can have several children.
At the top of the hierarchy, there is one entity, which is called
the root.
 Database models

Network database model

In the network model, the entities are organized in a graph.
Some entities can be accessed through several paths
 Database models

Relational database model

In the relational model, data is organized in two-dimensional tables called

relations. It is the most popular model.

Each column within a table defines the fields, while each row defines the
records.

The tables or relations are related to each other.

For examples information about employees can be held in one table, while

information about salaries can be held in another separate table.

Database models
 Database models

Distributed database model

It is not a new model. It is based on relational model.

The data are stored on several computers that communicate

through the Internet or some private WAN.

Data are either fragmented, with each fragment stored at one

site, or data are replicated at each site.

• Fragmented distributed databases

• Replicated distributed databases

Relational database model
Relations(Tables)
 A relation in an RDBMS has the following
features:
 Name: Each relation should have a name
that is unique among other relations.
Attributes: Each column in a relation is
called an attribute.
Tuples: Each row in a relation is called a
tuple. A tuple defines a collection of attribute
values.
“ An example of a relation “
Database Example
 A set of relations(tables) form a database
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 vitamin c $45.99
509 Andrew Zych ... 200 Tooth Paste $2.58
510 Greg Smith ... 201 Hair Gel $5.99
Databases
 But, databases are not just a set 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 vitamin c $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
 Concepts Related to Tables of a database

What is a primary key?

• Primary key is made up of one or more fields that uniquely identify

each record in your table and provide the following advantages:

 The primary key is often used in establishing relationships.

 Duplicate records are not allowed.

 A primary key can be made up of one or more fields.

 Concepts Related to Tables of a database

What is a Foreign Keys?

 Foreign keys enforce

referential integrity by
completing an association
between two entities.
 Duplicate records are
allowed.
EX1: A part of relational database represents a company

EMPLOYEES

Employee_name ID Birth_date Gender Dept_code Job_grades

Record

SALARIES DEPARTMENTS

ID Salary Dept_code Dept_name

 EX2: A part of relational database represents a university

DEPARTMENTS PROFESSORS

Dept_Code Dept_Name Prof_ID Prof_Name Dept_Code Course_No

COURSES STUDENTS

Course_No Course_Name Dept_code Prof_ID Stud_ID Stud_Name Course_No

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
 student takes course
Types of Relationships Student

Course Student

Student
Many to Many Course

 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.
OPERATIONS
ON
RELATIONS
 Operations on relations

 In a relational database, we can define several

operations to create new relations out of the
existing ones.
 Basic operations:
Insert Delete
Update Select
Project Join
Union Intersection
Difference
 Operations on relations

 Each operation is described as defined in the

database query language SQL (Structured
Query Language).
 Structured Query Language (SQL) is the language
standardized by the American National Standards
Institute (ANSI) and the International Organization
for Standardization (ISO) for use on relational
databases.
 It is a declarative rather than procedural language,
which means that users declare what they want
without having to write a step-by-step procedure.
 Insert operation
• Insert Operation: Inserts new tuple into the relation
• insert into RELATION-NAME values ( … , … , … )
• insert into COURSES values ( “CIS52”,”TCP/IP”, 6 )

“An example of an insert operation”

 Delete operation
• Delete Operation: Deletes tuple from the relation

• delete from RELATION-NAME where criteria

• delete from COURSES where No=“CIS19”

“An example of delete operation”

 Update operation

• Update Operation: Changes the values of some attributes

of a tulpe
• update RELATION-NAME set attribute1=value1,
attribute2=value2, … where criteria

• update COURSES set Unit=6 where No=“CIS51”

“An example of update operation”

 Select operation
• Select Operation: Uses some criteria to select some
tuples from the original relation

• select * from RELATION-NAME where criteria

• select * from COURSES where Unit=5

“An example of select operation”

 Project operation
• Project Operation: Creates relation in which each tulpe
has fewer attributes
• select attribute-list from RELATION-NAME
• select No, Unit from COURSES

An example of a project operation

 Join operation

• Join Operation: Takes two relation and combine them

based on common attribute
 Union operation

• Union Operation: Creates new relation in which each

tuple is either in the first relation, the second relation or
in both
 Intersection operation

• Intersection Operation: Creates new relation in

which each tuple is either in both relations.
 Difference operation

• Difference Operation: Creates new relation where the

new tuples are in the first relation but not in the
second.
Microsoft Access Database
 Basic Elements of Microsoft Access Database

 Microsoft Access is a very easy and common software used to build

databases.

 The first step to build a database is to determine the tables of the

database.

 Microsoft Access provides the following elements for any database:

 Tables
 Relationships
 Quires
 Forms
 Reports
 Data Types of Table Fields

Microsoft Access provides several data types for the fields of database
tables, some examples of these types are:
 Text
 Number
 Date/Time
 Currency
 Auto Number
 OLE Object
 Hyper Link
 Look UP Wizard
 Type of Database Relationships

 Access provides two types of relationships (relations) between fields

of different tables for a database :
 One-to-One relationship (1 –to- 1).
 One-to-Many relationship (1 –to- ∞).

 These relations depend on the relations between the mutual of

the related tables.

 The term one of the relation types refers to that the field is
primary key in its table, while the term many refers to that the
field is not primary key.
EX1: Determine the relationships and its types between the
following fields:

EMPLOYEES

Employee_name ID Birth_date Gender Dept_code Job_grades

Record

SALARIES DEPARTMENTS

ID Salary Dept_code Dept_name

 EMPLOYEES

Employee_name ID Birth_date Gender Dept_code Job_grades

Record

One-to-One relationship
1 ∞
One-to-Many relationship

1 SALARIES 1 DEPARTMENTS

ID Salary Dept_code Dept_name

EX2: Determine the relationships and its types between the
following fields:

DEPARTMENTS PROFESSORS

Dept_Code Dept_Name Prof_ID Prof_Name Dept_Code Course_No

COURSES STUDENTS

Course_No Course_Name Stud_ID Stud_Name Course_No

 Solution

DEPARTMENTS PROFESSORS

Dept_Code Dept_Name Prof_ID Prof_Name Dept_Code Course_No

1 one-to-many relationship ∞ ∞
one-to-many relationship
1 COURSES STUDENTS

Course_No Course_Name Stud_ID Stud_Name Course_No

1 ∞
End