Data Model

CS341
Topics
 What is a Data Model?
 Levels of Data Model
 Data Independence
 Schema Mapping
 Types of Data models
 History of Database Systems

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Data Model
 Data Model is an integrated collection of concepts for
describing
 Data
 Relationships between data, and
 Constraints on the data
 The purpose of a Data Model is to represent data in an
understandable way
 Data Model comprises:
 a structural part;
 a manipulative part;
 possibly a set of integrity rules.

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Data Model (cont.)
 A data model is a collection of descriptions for data, data
relationships, and constraints
 These descriptions are called schema
 Each schemas represents different level of abstraction
 Several schemas (levels of description) are used
 A data model provides a way to describe the design of a
database at the physical, logical, and view level
 Physical schema describes the database design at the internal
level (at the file level)
 Logical schema describes the database design at the conceptual
level
 A database may also have several schemas at the view level
(external level)
 These schemas describe different user views of the database
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Data Model (cont.)

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ANSI-SPARC Model - Architecture

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3-Level Model
 External Data Model
 Represent each user’s view of the organization
 Describes the part of database that is relevant to a particular
user
 Conceptual Data Model
 Represent the logical (or community) view
 A complete and accurate representation of an organization’s
data requirements
 Describes what ALL the data that is stored in database including
the relationships among the data and constraints
 It is independent of the target DBMS
 Programmers construct applications by using the conceptual
schema

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3-Level Model (cont.)
 Internal Data Model
 Physical representation of the database on the computer
 Describes how the data is stored in database files
 This is how the OS and DBMS view Data
 The physical schema is hidden beneath the logical schema
 The internal schema can usually be changed without affecting
application programs

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3-Level Model - Example

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3-Level Model - Objectives
 All users should be able to access same data
 But each user may see it in different forms
 A user’s view is immune to changes made in other user’s
views.
 Users should not need to know physical database
storage details
 The conceptual structure of database can be changed
without affecting all users
 It should be possible to change database storage
structures (internal structure) without affecting the users’
views

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Data Independence
 Main Concept of Data Independence is that UPPER
layers are immune to changes in the lower layers
 Data independence means that programs are isolated
from changes in the way the data are structured and
stored.
 The database management system provides the
interface between the application programs and the data
 For example
 In traditional file processing system: If we add a new attribute
or change index structure then applications are affected
 But in a DBMS environment these changes are reflected in the
catalog, as a result the applications are not affected

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Logical Data Independence
 Logical Data Independence refers to immunity of
external schemas to changes in conceptual schema.
 Changes in the Conceptual schema should not require
changes to external schema or rewrites of application
programs
 It is the ability to modify the logical schema without
causing application program to be rewritten
 Example
 Addition or removal of attributes or tables
 Obviously some users my be affected, but not all users

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Physical Data Independence
 Physical Data Independence refers to immunity of
conceptual schema to changes in the internal schema.
 Internal schema changes should not require change to
conceptual or external schemas
 Example:
 Different file organizations (storage structures) may be used by
different DBMSs, but this should not require changes of the
conceptual schema or application programs
 Application programs need not be rewritten if the
physical schema changes

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Schema Mapping
 Schema Mapping facilitates Data Independence
 The DBMS is responsible for mapping between the three
types of schema
 External/Conceptual Mapping
 This enables the DBMS to map names in the user’s view on to
the relevant part of the conceptual schema.
 Conceptual/Internal Mapping
 This enables the DBMS to find the actual record or combination
of records in physical storage that constitute a logical record in
the conceptual schema
 Any constraint to be enforced on the operations for that logical
record will also be included

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Schema Mapping (cont.)

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Types of Data Models
 Hierarchical Data Model
 Network Data Model
 Relational Data Model
 Object-Relational
 Object-Oriented

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History of Database Systems
 First-generation: 1960’s
 Hierarchical and Network Model
 Second generation: 1970’s
 Relational Model
 Third generation: 1980’s
 Object-Relational Model
 Object-Oriented Model

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1st Generation Data Models
 Hierarchical and Network Model
 Navigational and procedural approach to data processing
 Treat records as individual objects linked with pointers
 Need to know the physical Database to access the data
 Both kinds of DBMSs were accessible from the
programming language (usually Cobol) using a low-level
interface
 Made some basic tasks controllable, but still complex
and time-consuming
 creating an application
 maintaining the database
 tuning and development

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Hierarchical Data Model
 Record type is referred to as node
 The top node is the root node
 Nodes are arranged in a hierarchical structure
 Like an inverted tree
 A parent node can have more than one child node
 A child node can only have one parent node
 The relationship between parent and child is one-to-many
 Relation is established by creating physical link between
stored records
 Relationships are implemented as pointer
 To add new record type or relationship, the database
must be redefined and then stored in a new form.

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Hierarchical Data Models (cont.)

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Network Data Model
 Allows record types to have more than one parent
 unlike hierarchical model
 A network data models sees records as set members
 Each set has an owner and one or more members
 Allows many to many relationship between entities
 Like hierarchical model network model is a collection of
physically linked records.
 Allow member records to have more than one owner

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Network Data Model (cont.)

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2nd Generation Data Models
 Relational DBMS - 1970 Edgar F. Codd
 Data in a database could be represented as a tabular
structure
 Using tables with columns and rows
 These tables were called relations
 Tables can be accessed using a high-level non-
procedural (or declarative) language
 Instead of writing algorithms to access data
 The approach only needs a predicate (condition) that identified
the desired records or combination of records.
 In the beginning of the 1980s several Relational DBMS
(RDBMS) products emerged
 e.g. Oracle, Informix, Ingres and DB2

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Relational Data Model
 The idea of a relation is modelled on a mathematical
construct
 Based on the concept of RELATION
 Relation: Two dimensional table
 The database is seen as a collection of tables
 Stores data in the form of tables  rows and columns
 A row of the table is called tuple equivalent to record
 Columns are called attribute equivalent to fields
 Data value is the value of the Attribute
 Records are related by the data stored jointly in the fields
of records in two tables.
 Uses Declarative (as opposed to Procedural) approach to
database processing
 Treats records as a Group (Set)
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Relational Data Model (cont.)
CODD’S 12 Rules (extract)
 Every relation in a database must have a distinct name
 Every column in a relation must have a distinct name
within the relation
 All entries in a column must be of the same kind
 They are said to be defined on the same domain
 The ordering of columns in a relation is not significant
 Each row in a relation must be distinct
 Duplicate rows are not allowed in a relation
 The ordering of rows is not significant
 Each cell or column/row intersection in a relation should
contain only an atomic value
 Multiple-values are not allowed in the cells of a relation
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Relational Data Model (cont.)

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Relational Data Model (cont.)
 Relational Data Model uses SQL (structured query
language) for defining and manipulating data
 Data Definition Language (DDL)
 Used to CREATE and make changes to database objects:
 entities, attributes, and relationships
 integrity and security constraints

 Data Manipulation Language (DML)

 Provides basic data manipulation operations on data held in the
database
 allows user to tell system exactly how to manipulate data
 Non-Procedural language - allows user to state what data is
needed rather than how it is to be retrieved.

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Functions of a RDBMS
 Data Storage, Retrieval, and Update
 A User-Accessible Catalog
 Transaction Support
 Concurrency Control
 Recovery Services
 Authorization Services
 Support for Data Communication
 Integrity Services
 Services to Promote Data Independence
 Other Utility Services( Import/Export, Task scheduler,
…etc)
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System Catalog
 Repository of information (metadata) describing the data
in the database.
 One of the fundamental components of DBMS.
 Typically stores:
 Names, types, and sizes of data items;
 Constraints on the data;
 Names of authorized users;
 Data items accessible by a user and the type of access;
 Usage statistics.

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3rd Generation Data Models
 Object-Relational
 Object-relational DBMS (ORDBMS)
 Includes some object-oriented features and encapsulate these
features into an RDBMS
 extend the capabilities of an RDBMS to include support for richer
object structures
 Object-Oriented
 OODBMSs
 Offer persistence to objects, including the object’s associations
and methods.

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