Databases
Author: Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Lecture: 1
Content: Chapter 1
Course of
studies: Information Technology
Semester: WS 2024 / 2025
Chapter 1: Introduction
• Introduction:
A database consists of a collection of data,
which is stored in a computer!
Good beginning, because
Frankfurt University – Databases
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
the data is the core of a
database system,
but we need more
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Private adress book
Aim is to store information from different
individual types, e.g. friends, colleagues,
business partners, etc.
Store Characteristics like names,
adresses, phonenumbers, etc.
Frankfurt University – Databases
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Collected information are stored in
an adress book for years
Adress book becomes single point of truth
and is important – we want to keep it
permanently
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
First request to a database:
Data has to be stored persistent
(1) Latin:
persistere – remain, stand still
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
(2) Information technology:
A storage is persistent, when it is
independent of runtime of programs or
switch on- and off of the computer
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Several possibilities how to store the
existing information
Alphabetic
by name
by surname
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
by city (private or business)
etc.
• The aim is to find entries fast and
simple
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Second request to a database:
There must be many different search terms
on the data pool.
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Show me the entry of ‘Hans
Müller’
Show me all contacts of
‘Neapel’
Show me all contacts with an
„@arcor.de“ email address
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Result oriented communication between
user and database!
(1) Read the first entry of the databasee
(2) Check if wanted set is available
If not, read the next one
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(3)
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
(1) Show me the address of Simon Cowell
(2) When is the birthday of Tahir Gül
(3) How much entries of Frankfurt are
deposited in the database
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Third request to a database:
We need selection or search functions for our
database, with which we get the requested
view by describing the requested results.
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Furthermore, we need so called
administration functions for our data.
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Administration functions
Yesterday Today
Buy address book and Create a dataset in our
make entries database (INSERT)
Read entries Read datasets (SELECT)
Frankfurt University – Databases
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Change entries Update datasets
(UPDATE)
Delete entries Delete datasets
(DELETE)
• Includes the four basic operations CRUD
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Use Case example “update ZIP code”:
• ZIP code switch in 1993 (from 4 to 5 digits)
… old: 6057
… new: 63128
private address book
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•
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
→ complicated to update all data
→ great manual effort
• electronic address book
→ possible with only one command
→ updates are only possible if certain
rules are followed
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Redundancy:
• Available address database
Surame Name City
Redundancies
Müller Moritz Frankfurt
Schubert Matthias Frankfurt a.M.
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Goethe Johann Wolfgang Frankfurt/Main
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Valenti Gaetano Frankf.
Bohlen Dieter FFM
• All described search and administration
functions have no possibility to be
implemented in such case!
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Definition redundancy:
Redundancy means that individual data
exists several times
Frankfurt University – Databases
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Consequences of such redundancies
Datasets are
… difficult to find and
… difficult to change
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
Use Case example “data
inconsistence”:
Surname Name Mobile
Madmar Mohamed 015/085
Mohamed Madmar 015/085
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Update mobile # from 015/085 in 015/007
inconsistence
Surname Name Mobile
Data
Madmar Mohamed 0151 / 007
Mohamed Madmar 0151 / 0815
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Definition Data inconsistency :
In the information technology,
inconsistency of data stands for
contradictions between the data
(source: Wikipedia)
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
• Problem can be prevented by avoiding
redundancies
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Chapter 1.1: Private example
• Request to a database:
The database should be designed in that way,
so you can store the data without
redundancies.
Frankfurt University – Databases
© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Avoid redundancies by
Inserting information with
existing ref. tables
checking the values
Simplifying of the entry due to
separation of the fields
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Chapter 1.2: Public example
• SETON Online Shop
Database with
Customer,
Article and
Campaign information
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Customer can…
search for article,
order articles and/or
insert the campaign code
…on the Homepage
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article
customer
Chapter 1.2: Public example
campaign
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
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Chapter 1.2: Public example
• Request to a database:
A database has to be designed for
multi-user operation system.
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
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Chapter 1.3: Summary
• What do we expect from a database
system?
Persistent storage of data
Different search possibilities
Insert-, Update- and Delete operation
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© Dipl.-Inf. (FH) Salvatore Sabba
Avoid redundancies and Data
inconsistency
Multi-User operation system
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End Chapter 1
