13 Database Concepts

Data:Data is the collection of facts, statistics and figures which can be processed to produce
meaningful information.
Information: Processed data with some definite meaning.
Data processing: Process of converting data into information

DATABASE TERMS:
File: It is a basic unit of storage in computer system. It contains large collection of data.
Database: It is a collection (group) of logically related data organized in a way that data can be
easily accessed, managed and updated.
Table: It is a collection of data elements organized in terms of rows and columns.

Tuple/Record/Row is a single entry in a table.

Attribute/Field/Column: Each Column is identified by a distinct header called attribute or field.
Domain: It is a set of all unique values permitted for an attribute in that column.
Example: Age (1-99) , Married (Yes or No),Nationality (Nepalese, Indian, American, or British)
Colour (Red, Yellow, Green).
Entity: It is a person, a place, or a thing for which data is collected and maintained.

APPLICATIONS OF DATABASE:
1. Banking: For customer information, accounts and loans, and banking transactions.
2. Water meter billing/Electricity billing: The RR number and all the details are stored in the
database.
3. Rail and Airlines: Reservation and Schedule information.
4. Colleges: Student admission, student information.
5. Credit card transactions: For purchases on credit cards and generation of monthly
statements.
6. Telecommunication: For keeping records of call made, generating monthly bills, maintaining
balance on prepaid calling cards, and storing information about the communication
networks.
7. Aadhaar database: This is the biggest database in the world storing a data about people
residing in India.
8. Finance: For storing information about holdings sales and purchases
9. Sales: Customer information, product and purchase information.
10. Manufacturing: Tracking production of items in factories, orders for items, supply of
products.
11. Human resources: Information of employees, salaries, tax deduction and benefits.

EVOLUTION OF DATABASE
There are two types of data processing systems
1. Manual data processing
2. Electronic data processing

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 Electronic (computerized) data
Sl. No. Manual data processing
processing
1 Limited volume of data can be processed Large volume of data can be processed
in a desirable time in a desirable time
2 Large amount of paper is used Less amount of paper is used
3 Limited Job execution speed and Faster Job execution speed and
accuracy accuracy
4 High labour cost Economical labour cost
5 Storage medium is paper Storage medium is secondary storage
medium.

DATA PROCESSING CYCLE

The way data is processed into an information is called as data processing cycle.

Collection

Input

Process Storage

Output

Communication

1. Data collection (Gathering data, facts and statistics): Data required for an organization may
be available at various places. This task basically involves finding the origin of Data.
2. Data Input:The input of stored data should be done in a form that is understood by the data
processing system.
3. Data Processing: The processing is a series of actions or operations from the input data to
generate outputs. some of the operations are:
a. Classification of database
b. Sorting of database
c. Verification
d. Calculation
e. Recording and summarizing
4. Data Storage: Data storage may be on devices such as floppies. hard disk, and tape and so
on or a hard copy may be maintained in files.
5. Data Output: T h e r e s u l t ( i n f o r m a t i o n ) obtained after processing the data must be
presented to the user in user understandable form. The result may be in form of
reports(hardcopy/ softcopy). Some of the output can be in the form of sound, picture.
6. Communication: Computers nowadays have communication ability which increases their
power. With wired or wireless communication connections, data may be input from afar,
processed in a remote area and stored in several different places and then be transmitted
by modem as an e-mail or posted to the website

DATA TYPES OF DBMS

1. Integer: Hold whole number without fractions.
2. Logical: Store data that has only two values true or false.
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3. Character (Char): Includes letter, number, spaces, symbols and punctuation. Characters
fields or variables store text information like name, address, but size will be one byte.
4. Strings: Sequence of character more than one.
5. Memo: Stores large amount of alphanumeric data more than 255 characters up to 65,535.
6. Currency: Accepts data in a currency form. The currency data type accepts data in dollar
form by default.
7. Date: Accepts data entered in date format.
8. Text: Accepts data as an alpha-numeric text string.

DBMS (Database Management System)

A DBMS is a software that allows creation, definition and manipulation of database. DBMS is
actually a tool used to perform any kind of operation on data in database. DBMS also provides
protection and security to database. It maintains data consistency in case of multiple users.
Here are some examples of popular DBMS, MySql, Oracle, Sybase, Microsoft Access and IBM
DB2 etc

FEATURES OF DBMS
1. Centralized data management: DBMS provides centralized data management.
2. Data integrity: Data Integrity refers to the correctness of the data in the database. In other
words, the data available in the database is reliable data.
3. Controlled data redundancy: All the information in database management system occurs
only once so chances of duplication are very less.
4. Data sharing: The data stored in the database can be shared among multiple users of the
database.
5. Data security: DBMS doesn’t give the full access of database except admin. To ensure
security, a RDBMS provides security tools such as user codes and passwords.
6. Ease of application development: The application programmer needs to develop the
application programs according to the users’ needs.
7. Multiple user interfaces (Multi-user Access): The query language provided by DBMS is so
easy to understand.
8. Backup and recovery: Data can be recovered from hardware and software failures.
9. Metadata: DBMS provides a metadata library (or a data dictionary) that describes how the
database is organized and what elements (objects, related files, records, etc.) compose its
structure.

Why spreadsheet (Ms-Excel) is not a database

1. A spreadsheet is an application for tabulating data while a database is where data is stored
so that it can be retrieved by users
2. The amount of data that is usually stored in a database is way more than what is contained
in a spreadsheet
3. A spreadsheet is edited directly by people while a database is accessed by applications that
enter and modify data
4. A spreadsheet is usually used for presentations and paper works while databases are
commonly used in cases where a lot of data needs to stored

DATA ABSTRACTION:-
The process of representing the essential features without including its background details is
known as data abstraction. The DBMS architecture describes how data in the database is
viewed by the users. The database users are provided with an abstract view of the data by
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hiding certain details of how data is physically stored. This helps the users to manipulate the
data without worrying about where it is located
or how it is actually stored.
The overall description of the database can be
defined at three levels namely internal(physical),
conceptual(logical) and external level(view level)
thus ite is named Three level RDBMS
architecture

1)Physical Level (Internal level): The lowest level

of abstraction describes how the data are
actually stored (it describes how the data is
physically stored and organized on the storage
medium)

2)Logical Level (Conceptual level) : It deals with

the logical structure of the entire data base. It
describes how data is stored in the database, the
relationships among the data and complete view
of the user’s requirements without any concern for the physical implementation. It is the
overall view of the database and it includes all the information that is going to be represented
to the database.

3)View Level (External level) : The highest level of abstraction that deals with the user’s view of
the database. The external level Describes a part of the database for a particular group of the
user permits the user to access the data in a way that is customized according to their needs so
that same data can be seen by different user in different ways.

DBMS users
There are four types of DBMS users
• Application programmers or Ordinary users
• End users
• Database Administrator (DBA)
• System Analyst
1. Application programmers or Ordinary users: These users write application programs to
interact with the database. Application programs can be written in some programming language
such a COBOL, PL/I, C++, JAVA or some higher level fourth generation language.
2. End Users: End users use the developed applications. End users need not know about the
working, database design, the access mechanism etc. They just use the system to get their task
done.
3. Database Administrator (DBA): Database Administrator (DBA) is the person who makes the
strategic and policy decisions regarding the data of the enterprise, and who provides the
necessary technical support for implementing these decisions. Therefore, DBA is responsible for
overall control of the system at a technical level.
4. System Analyst: System Analyst determines the requirement of end users. System Analyst
plays a major role in database design and its properties; the structure prepares the system
requirement statement, which involves the feasibility aspect, economic aspect, technical aspect
etc. of the system.

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