Databases

iGCSE Computer Science

What is a database?
An organised, structured collection of related information.

Similar to a spreadsheet, information is organised into rows and columns. In fact,

spreadsheets are commonly used as simple databases.
Some terminology
● Table
● Record
● Field
● Primary key
● Relational databases
● Foriegn key
● Composite key
● Data type
Table
A collection of data is known as a table.
Record
Field
Primary key
A field that uniquely identifies
one record and only one
record.

Note in the example why

names are not appropriate.

Database primary keys are to

blame for all the numbers
assigned to us.
Data types
The datatypes available vary
by database system.

For the igcse, you only need

to consider:
● TEXT
● NUMBER
● DATE/TIME
● CURRENCY
● BOOLEAN
Exercise
Scenario:

Imagine you have been tasked to create a database for a School assessment/reports system.

You need to record information about:

● Students
● Classes
● Their assessments
● Their grades
...to be able to produce the end of term/semester reports.

Identify the fields and datatypes you anticipate needing for this scenario. It may help to
imagine example outputs/printouts the system may require.
Relational databases
Relational databases
The power of
databases comes
from being able to
link information from
one table to related
information in other
tables.
Foreign key
Links to the primary key
of an alternate table.
Composite key
Multiple fields being
combined to act as the
primary key.
Relationship types
Normalising data
Normalising data
Consider the following data
StudentID Name Subjects Teachers Grades
101 Alex Physics, Chemistry Murdoch, Lewis 5, 6
103 Elizabeth Java, Math Baumgarten, 7, 6
Wilson
102 Brian Math, English Wilson, Pegg 3, 4
1st normal form
Each column must contain only one value.

BEFORE StudentID Name Subjects Teachers Grades

101 Alex Physics, Chemistry Murdoch, Lewis 5, 6
103 Elizabeth Java, Math Baumgarten, 7, 6
Wilson
102 Brian Math, English Wilson, Pegg 3, 4

AFTER StudentID Name Subject Teacher Grade

101 Alex Physics Murdoch 5
101 Alex Chemistry Lewis 6
103 Elizabeth Java Baumgarten 7
103 Elizabeth Math Wilson 6
102 Brian Math Wilson 3
102 Brian English Pegg 4
 StudentID Name
2nd normal form 101 Alex
103 Elizabeth
Every field is dependent on the primary key. 102 Brian
● Split fields into different tables as required
until this is met. Subject Teacher
Physics Murdoch
Chemistry Lewis
StudentID Name Subject Teacher Grade Java Baumgarten
101 Alex Physics Murdoch 5 Math Wilson
101 Alex Chemistry Lewis 6 English Pegg
103 Elizabeth Java Baumgarten 7
StudentID Subject Grade
103 Elizabeth Math Wilson 6
101 Physics 5
102 Brian Math Wilson 3
101 Chemistry 6
102 Brian English Pegg 4
103 Java 7
103 Math 6
102 Math 3
102 English 4
 3rd normal form
No non key attribute is transitively dependent on the primary key ...What?

A is dependent on B, and B is dependent on C, then C is “transitively dependent” on A (via B).

Address records are a good example. Is everything below really dependent on the primary key?

Member ID Name Street District State ZIP

432 Philippa 9929 Saxon Road Maspeth NY 11378
345 Willem 8094 Brickyard Street Wheaton NE 68506
456 Kajetan 2 W. Gartner St Palmetto IL 60187
457 Sharna 431 Bear Hill Rd. New Albany FL 34221
256 Rosie 775 Walt Whitman St Naugatuck IN 47150
374 Kiyan 8906 Old York Dr Lincoln CT 16770
 3rd normal form
Member ID Name Street District State ZIP
432 Philippa 9929 Saxon Road Maspeth NY 11378 Storing the District and
345 Willem 8094 Brickyard Street Wheaton NE 68506 State is redundant
456 Kajetan 2 W. Gartner St Palmetto IL 60187
because that can be
457 Sharna 431 Bear Hill Rd. New Albany FL 34221
256 Rosie 775 Walt Whitman St Naugatuck IN 47150 determined via the ZIP
374 Kiyan 8906 Old York Dr Lincoln CT 16770 code. Hence it is
transitively dependent.

Member ID Name Street ZIP (foriegn key) ZIP District State

432 Philippa 9929 Saxon Road 11378 11378 Maspeth NY
345 Willem 8094 Brickyard Street 68506 68506 Wheaton NE
456 Kajetan 2 W. Gartner St 60187 60187 Palmetto IL
457 Sharna 431 Bear Hill Rd. 34221 34221 New Albany FL
256 Rosie 775 Walt Whitman St 47150 47150 Naugatuck IN
374 Kiyan 8906 Old York Dr 16770 16770 Lincoln CT
Other considerations
Try to anticipate possible uses for the data.
● You might need a formal name for use on certificates, and a casual name for use in
emails or correspondance.

Design as inclusive as possible. Consider names:

● First name, given name, preferred name
● Last name, surname, full name

https://shinesolutions.com/2018/01/08/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names-with-
examples/
Software should be built to meet your requirements while trying to anticipate strange
situations. Context remains important. Address edge cases in some reasonable way.
Exercise
Previously you created a list of fields & data types for a School assessment/reporting system.

We just saw a similar example in the most recent slides. Using the principles of normalisation,
how would you extend this example to include:
● Information on each individual assessment and
● Information on each student's achievement in each individual assessment
SQL: Structured query language
SQL databases
SQLite3
Download and install the DB Browser for SQLite

https://sqlitebrowser.org/
SQL: Creating a table
The rule:

CREATE table (
field datatype,
field datatype,
...
PRIMARY KEY (field, ...)
);
SQL: Creating a table
Examples

CREATE TABLE 'contacts' (

'givenName' TEXT,
"familyName' TEXT,
'email' TEXT,
'phoneNumber' TEXT,
'dateOfBirth' TEXT,
'age' INTEGER,
'id' INTEGER,
PRIMARY KEY('id')
);

Note: Strings are enclosed with single quotes.

SQL: Inserting records
The rule:

INSERT INTO table (field, field, ...) VALUES (value, value, ...);

Examples:

INSERT INTO contacts (

givenName, familyName, email,
phoneNumber, dateOfBirth, age, id
) VALUES (
'Sheldon', 'Cooper', '[email protected]',
'555 0001', '26/02/1980', 41, 1
);

Note: Strings are enclosed with single quotes.

SQL: Querying our database
Get every field of every record from a table.
SELECT * FROM table;

Get some fields for every record from a table.

SELECT field, field, field FROM table;

Get records that match where field is set to value.

SELECT … FROM table WHERE field = value;

Get records that match where two fields have set values.
SELECT … FROM table WHERE field = value AND field = value;

Get records that match where two possible field/values exist.

SELECT … FROM table WHERE field = value OR field = value;
SQL: Querying our database
Examples.

SELECT * FROM contacts;

SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE id=5;

SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE age >= 40;

SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE familyName >= 'M';

SELECT * FROM contacts WHERE dateOfBirth LIKE '%1981';

SQL: Updating records
The rule:

UPDATE table SET field=value, field=value WHERE field=value;

Example:

UPDATE contacts SET age=41 WHERE id=1;

Be careful of your WHERE clause. Leave it out and you will change EVERY RECORD. Test it
with a SELECT before using it to UPDATE.
SQL: Deleting records
The rule:

DELETE FROM table WHERE field=value;

Example:

DELETE FROM contacts

WHERE familyName='Cooper' AND givenName='Sheldon';

Be careful of your WHERE clause. Leave it out and you will change EVERY RECORD. Test it
with a SELECT before using it to UPDATE.
igcse "query-by-example"
igcse "query-by-example"

https://github.com/paulbaumgarten/gcse-query-tool
igcse "query-by-example"
Challenge
Solve the murder!
There's been a Murder in SQL City!

A crime has taken place and the detective

needs your help. The detective gave you the
crime scene report, but you somehow lost it.
You vaguely remember that the crime was
a murder that occurred sometime on Jan.15,
2018 and that it took place in SQL City.

Search the database, solve the murder!

https://mystery.knightlab.com/
Tasker
tasker.db

accounts folders tasks

userid (text, PK) userid (text, PK) userid (text)

password (text) id (text, PK) folderid (text)
salt (text) name id (text, PK)
email (text) title (text)
name (text) due (text)
reminder (text)
created (text)
category (text)
priority (integer)
status (text)
notes (text)
link (text)
tasker.db: Add test data
server.py: Database functionality
server.db: Read database
server.db: Render HTML
server.py: Receive HTML forms
server.py: Save to database
Review
Past paper questions review