File System and Databases
File System and Databases
Lecture 1
Ways data is organized in…
Word Proces
Characters in
group of words
Spreadsheet Format – Store data in rows and columns :
Patient A
Several things to note about the above table:
Data to be stored has uniform format. Same kind of information
John Smith 12
about each patient
1. File size will increase as the number of patient records
increases
2. Frequently accessing the table for new or existing patients
Jim Words 12
3. Table will be useful for all like the doctor or administrators
4. Other people may need print out of the information .
Potential problems that can arise:
P a tie n t s P a t ie n ts p ro g ra m U sers
W ards W a rd s p ro g ra m Use r s
Ro oms R o o m s p ro g ra m U sers
Traditional method of file management
Although this is an improvement over the spreadsheet
method of storing and accessing data, there are still some
problems.
For instance, information about the wards is closely related to
the information about rooms but they are in different files.
How do you link them ? Often extra programming effort.
Not every organization can afford to have a programmer
Getting access to the required information often takes a
number of steps.
To speed up the retrieval of information you can create
indexes for the file and/or split it up to avoid repetition of
information and reduce the total size of the file.
Disadvantages of TFM
Since data is stored in many related files you can
end up with:
User 1
Patients User 3
Database
Doctors User 6
Management
Ward System User 9
Room User 12
Data are all in one database but kept in a separate logical units or tables.
The DBMS provides users with one interface to access the database and
present the database information to each users according to preferences.