Database System Concepts

and Architecture

Data Model Schema and Instances, Database System Concept

and Architecture, Data Independence, Database Language and
Interfaces (DDL, DML, DCL).
 Data Models
One fundamental characteristic of the database approach is that it
provides some level of data abstraction.
Data abstraction generally refers to the suppression of details of
data organization and storage, and the highlighting of the essential
features for an improved understanding of data.
Data Model
 A set of concepts to describe the structure of a database, the operations for
manipulating these structures, and certain constraints that the database
should obey.
 Data Models
Data Model Structure and Constraints:
• Constructs are used to define the database structure
• Constructs typically include elements (and their data types) as well as
groups of elements (e.g. entity, record, table), and relationships among such
groups
• Constraints specify some restrictions on valid data; these constraints must
be enforced at all times
Data Model Operations
• These operations are used for specifying database retrievals and updates by
referring to the constructs of the data model.

• Operations on the data model may include basic model operations (e.g.
generic insert, delete, update) and user-defined operations (e.g.
compute_student_gpa, update_inventory)
 Categories of Data Models
Conceptual (high-level, semantic) data models
 Provide concepts that are close to the way many users perceive data.
 Also called entity-based or object-based data models.
Physical (low-level, internal) data models
 Provide concepts that describe details of how data is stored in the computer.
Implementation (representational) data models
 Provide concepts that fall between the above two
 provide concepts that may be easily understood by end users but that are not
too far removed from the way data is organized in computer storage.
 used by many commercial DBMS implementations (e.g. relational data
models used in many commercial systems).
 Conceptual data model
Conceptual data models use entities, attributes, and relationships.
An entity represents a real-world object or concept, such as an
employee or a project.
An attribute represents some property of interest that further
describes an entity, such as the employee’s name or salary.
A relationship among two or more entities represents an association
among the entities, for example, a works-on relationship between an
employee and a project.
Entity-Relationship model—a popular high-level conceptual data
model.
 Representational data model
Representational or implementation data models are the models
used most frequently in traditional commercial DBMSs.
These include the widely used relational data model, as well as so-
called legacy data models—the network and hierarchical models—
that have been widely used in the past.
Representational data models represent data by using record
structures and hence are sometimes called record-based data
models.
 Schema
Database Schema
 The description of a database.
 Specified during database design and is not expected to change frequently.
 Includes descriptions of the database structure, data types, and the
constraints on the database.
Schema Diagram
 An illustrative display of (most aspects of) a database schema.
Schema Construct
 A component of the schema or an object within the schema, e.g., STUDENT,
COURSE.
Example of a Database Schema
 Database State
The actual data stored in a database at a particular moment in time.
This includes the collection of all the data in the database.
Also called database instance (or occurrence or snapshot).
The term instance is also applied to individual database components,
e.g. record instance, table instance, entity instance.
Refers to the content of a database at a moment in time.
Initial Database State:
 Refers to the database state when it is initially loaded into the system.
Valid State:
 A state that satisfies the structure and constraints of the database.
Example of a database state
 Database Schema
vs. Database State
The database schema changes very infrequently.
The database state changes every time the database is
updated.
Schema is also called intension.
State is also called extension.
 Questions
Q1: List the characteristics of DBMS

Q2: What is Data Models?

Q3: What is a Database State?

Q4: What is schema?

 Three-Schema Architecture
Proposed to support DBMS characteristics of:
 Program-data independence
 Support of multiple views of the data
 Three-Schema Architecture
The goal of the three-schema architecture is to separate user
applications from the physical database.
Defines DBMS schemas at three levels:
 Internal schema at the internal level to describe physical storage structures and
access paths (e.g indexes).
• Typically uses a physical data model.
 Conceptual schema at the conceptual level to describe the structure and
constraints for the whole database for a community of users.
• hides the details of physical storage structures and concentrates on describing entities, data
types, relationships, user operations, and constraints.
• Uses an implementation data model.
 External schemas at the external level to describe the various user views
• Each external schema describes the part of the database that a particular user group is
interested in and hides the rest of the database from that user group.
• Usually uses the same data model (representational data model) as the conceptual schema.
 Three-Schema Architecture
Three schemas are only descriptions of data; the stored data that actually
exists is at the physical level only. Each user group refers to its own external
schema. Hence, the DBMS must transform a request specified on an
external schema into a request against the conceptual schema, and then
into a request on the internal schema for processing over the stored
database. If the request is a database retrieval, the data extracted from the
stored database must be reformatted to match the user’s external view.
The processes of transforming requests and results between levels are
called mappings.
Mappings among schema levels are needed to transform requests and
data.
 Programs refer to an external schema, and are mapped by the DBMS to the internal
schema for execution.
 Data extracted from the internal DBMS level is reformatted to match the user’s
external view (e.g. formatting the results of an SQL query for display in a Web page)
 Data Independence
Capacity to change the schema at one level of a database system
without having to change the schema at the next higher level.
Logical Data Independence
 The capacity to change the conceptual schema without having to change the
external schemas and their associated application programs.
Physical Data Independence
 The capacity to change the internal schema without having to change the
conceptual schema.
 For example, the internal schema may be changed when certain file
structures are reorganized or new indexes are created to improve database
performance
 Data Independence
When a schema at a lower level is changed, only the mappings
between this schema and higher-level schemas need to be changed in
a DBMS that fully supports data independence.
The higher-level schemas themselves are unchanged.
 Hence, the application programs need not be changed since they refer to the
external schemas.
 DBMS Languages
Data Definition Language (DDL)
Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 High-Level or Non-procedural Languages: These include the relational language
SQL
• May be used in a standalone way or may be embedded in a programming language
 Low Level or Procedural Languages:
• These must be embedded in a programming language

Data Definition Language (DDL)

 Used by the DBA and database designers to specify the conceptual schema of a
database.
 In many DBMSs, the DDL is also used to define external schemas (views).
 DBMS Languages
Data Manipulation Language (DML)
 Used to specify database retrievals and updates
 DML commands can be embedded in a general-purpose programming language
(host language), such as C, C++, or Java.
• A library of functions can also be provided to access the DBMS from a programming
language
 Alternatively, stand-alone DML commands can be applied directly (called a
query language).
 Types of DML
High Level or Non-procedural Language
 Are “set”-oriented (can specify and retrieve many records in a single DML
statement) and specify what data to retrieve rather than how to retrieve it.
 Also called declarative languages.
 For example, a query in SQL
Low Level or Procedural Language
 Retrieve data one record-at-a-time.
 Constructs such as looping are needed to retrieve multiple records, along with
positioning pointers.
A high-level DML used in a standalone interactive manner is called a
query language.
 DBMS Interfaces
Stand-alone query language interfaces
 Example: Entering SQL queries at the DBMS interactive SQL interface (e.g. SQL
Plus in ORACLE)
Programmer interfaces for embedding DML in programming languages
User-friendly interfaces
 Menu-based, forms-based, graphics-based, etc.
Mobile Interfaces: interfaces allowing users to perform transactions
using mobile apps
DBMS Programming Language Interfaces
Programmer interfaces for embedding DML in a programming
languages:
 Embedded Approach: e.g embedded SQL (for C, C++, etc.), SQLJ (for Java)
 Procedure Call Approach: e.g. JDBC for Java, ODBC for other programming
languages. ODBC is an SQL-based Application Programming Interface (API)
created by Microsoft that is used by Windows software applications to access
databases via SQL. JDBC is an SQL-based API created by Sun Microsystems to
enable Java applications to use SQL for database access.
 Database Programming Language Approach: e.g. ORACLE has PL/SQL, a
programming language based on SQL; language incorporates SQL and its data
types as integral components.
 Scripting Languages: Server-side scripting languages such as PHP and Python
are used to write database programs.
 DBMS Interfaces
User-Friendly DBMS Interfaces
 Menu-Based Interfaces for Web Clients or Browsing
 App for mobile devices
 Forms-based, designed for users used to filling in entries on a form.
 Graphical User Interfaces: A GUI typically displays a schema to the user in
diagrammatic form.
• Point and Click, Drag and Drop, etc.
• Specifying a query on a schema diagram
• Natural language: requests in written English
• Keyword-based Database Search
• Combinations of the above:
• For example, both menus and forms used extensively in Web database interfaces
 DBMS Interfaces
Interfaces for the DBA
 Creating user accounts, granting authorizations
 Setting system parameters
 Changing schemas or access paths

Interfaces for Parametric Users

 Bank tellers, small set of operation that they perform repeatedly
