Databases

Topic 1:
Introduction to the Module and Database
Fundamentals

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Scope and Coverage

This topic will cover:
• An outline of the module.
• Some introductory topics
– What are databases?
– Examples of databases in use
– Data and information

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Learning Outcomes
By the end of this topic, students will be able to:
• Give a definition of what a database is
• Give examples of databases in use
• Distinguish between data and information

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List of Topics
1 Introduction to the module and database fundamentals
2 Databases and Database Management Systems (DBMS)
3 Entity Relationship (ER) Modelling (1)
4 Entity Relationship (ER) Modelling (2)
5 The relational model (1)
6 The relational model (2)
7 SQL (1)
8 SQL (2)
9 Database Design
10 Supporting transactions
11 Database implementation
12 Summary

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Pedagogic Approach
• Lectures - 2 hours
• Tutorials - 1 hour
• Workshops - Beginning with 1 hour and then
moving to 2 hours
• Private study - approximately 7 hours

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Assessment
• Examination 50%
• Assignment 50%

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The Importance of Databases

• Relatively new technology – beginning properly in
1970s
• One of the most important components of
Information Technology
• Databases are everywhere

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Student Activity - Brainstorm

• What databases hold information about you?
• What databases have you interacted with?
– Take a few minutes to think about this and write
down your answers

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Examples of Use
• Supermarket checkout
• Purchasing using a credit card
• Booking a holiday
• Using a library
• Taking out insurance
• Obtaining a passport or other official document
• Using the Internet
• Studying at college or university

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Health Insurance - 1
Personal Data Type of Holiday
Health Where? How long?
Age Type of Activities.

Personal
Data

Type of Insurance
Required?

Insurance
Data

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Health Insurance - 2
• To match a person to the right insurance policy:
– Collate the relevant data about the person
– Store this data somewhere
– Match the data to data about types of insurance
– If searching from more than one company, then this
might be on multiple databases
– Matching people to insurance might use an Expert
System.

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What is a database?
• “A database is a computerised record keeping
system”

Date, C.J. (2003). An Introduction to

Database Systems 8th Edition. Pearson
Education

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Record Keeping Systems

• File system on a computer
• Word document
• Excel Spreadsheet
• Access database
• Manual card index file
• Files on a USB stick

• Are these all databases?

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Database Functions
• Databases should be able to:
– Store
– Manipulate
– Retrieve

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Database Size - 1
• Databases range in size:
– Single user databases on a PC
– Small office database with everyone doing the
same sorts of tasks
– Medium size database system with core data but
people doing different tasks
– Corporate databases spread over many sites
– Very large databases and data-warehouses

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Database Size - 2
• They can be very large:
– The Wal-Mart data warehouse was (as of 2004)
about 500 tera-bytes in size
– To put this into perspective: 1 tera-byte, if it was
just holding text, would be able to hold over 200
million pages of text!

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But databases aren’t like buckets!

• Database systems are not
just a mass of data
• It isn’t just about what they
can hold
• They are organised
• So we need a more precise
definition

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More Detailed Definition

• “We define a database as an organised collection
of logically related data”.

Hoffer,J., Ramesh, V. and Toppi, H. (2010). Modern

Database Management, 10th Edition. Pearson
Prentice Hall.

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What does this mean?

• Organised
• Logically related
• Data

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Organised
• Data is structured so as to be easily stored,
manipulated and retrieved by users.
• It is no good just having some data if we don’t
know how to get it in order to look at it and use it.

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Related
• Pieces of data do not exist in isolation
• For example:
– In a salesperson’s database, it is natural for the
customer’s name and the customer’s address to be
stored together
– They are related
– Together, with other data about the customer, they
are part of a meaningful set

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Student Activity: What is data?

• What qualities about you might be of interest to:
– College or university
– Social networking site

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Types of Data 1: Traditional

• Text such as names, address etc.
• Numbers such as: how many children.
• Dates such as a date of birth

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Types of Data 2: Multi-media

• Images
• Sounds
• Video
• Scans of documents

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Data and Information

• Traditionally there has been a distinction made
between ‘data’ and ‘information’
• Data are ‘raw facts’
Baker, Kenneth 19.01.80 98778373
Bagum, Ammena 01.02.81 97327627
Ako, Sarah 08.08.81 98737373
Finkle, Clive 09.09.81 93838383
Mc Farren, Debra 01.01.80 98383837
Sinseros, Douglas 27.05.80 99344222

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Information
• Data that has been processed and given meaning

Class list for Databases Module

Autumn Semester 2010
Student Name Student ID Date of Birth
Kenneth Baker 98778373 19th Jan 1980
Ammena Bagum 97327627 1st Feb 1981
Sarah Ako 98737373 8th Aug 1981
Clive Finkle 93838383 9th Sep 1981
Debra McFarren 98383837 1st Jan 1981
Douglas Sinseros 99344222 27th May 1980

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Information is Important
• Economically
• Politically
• Personally

• Databases are the key to information

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Recap of Learning Outcomes

By the end of this topic, students will be able to:
• Give a definition of what a database is
• Give examples of databases in use
• Distinguish between data and information

• Have we met them?

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References
• Chapter 1 of Connolly, T and Begg, C (2009). Database
Systems: A Practical Approach to Design, Implementation and
Management 5th Edition. Addison Wesley
• Chapter 1 of Date, C.J. (2003). An Introduction to Database
Systems 8th Edition. Pearson Education
• Chapter 1 of Hoffer,J., Ramesh, V. and Toppi, H. (2010).
Modern Database Management, 10th Edition. Pearson
Prentice Hall.
• Schuman, E. (2004). At WalMart, World’s Largest Retail Data
Warehouse Gets Even Bigger. E-week.com 13/10/2004
[Available Online]
http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterprise-Applications/At-WalMart
-Worlds-Largest-Retail-Data-Warehouse-Gets-Even-Larger/

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Topic 1 – Introduction to the Module and

Database Fundamentals

Any Questions?

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