IS-312 Database Systems: Introduction and Assessment

Study Notes

Course Information

The course is IS-321, and the instructor is Dr. Alaa eldin Abdallah Yassin.
The course has a prerequisite, and the assessment weighs as follows: Midterm exam (50), Lecture Attendance (10), Section Attendance (5), Practical exam (25), and Final term examination (60).
To pass the course, a student must get at least 60% (90 grades) and 30% from the final written exam (18 grades).

Class Materials

The textbook is "Fundamentals of Database Systems" 7th edition by ElMasri and Navathe.
Lecturers' materials are uploaded to OneDrive and Smart Learning.

Class Administration

Lectures are held once a week, and sections are held once a week, with instructors and assistants.

Outline

The course outline covers introduction and basic definitions, types of databases and database applications, DBMS and its functions, example of a database (UNIVERSITY), database system environment, main characteristics of the database approach, advantages of using the DBMS approach, and when not to use DBMS.

Introduction and Basic Definitions

Data is a known fact that can be recorded and has an implicit meaning, such as names, telephone numbers, and addresses.
A database is a collection of related data with implicit properties.

University Database Example

The university database has entities such as COURSEs, SECTIONs, STUDENTs, INSTRUCTORs, and DEPARTMENTs, with relationships between them.
This is typically expressed in a conceptual data model, such as the ENTITY-RELATIONSHIP data model.

Managing Data

There are two approaches to managing data: file-based approach and database approach.
The file-based approach has disadvantages such as program-data dependence, duplication of data, limited data sharing, and lengthy development times.
The database approach has advantages, including central storage of shared data, a controlling agent, and standardization.

Main Characteristics of the Database Approach

Self-describing nature of a database system, where the DBMS catalog stores the description of the database.
Insulation between programs and data, allowing changes to data structures and storage organization without affecting the DBMS access programs.
Data abstraction, which hides storage details and presents a conceptual view of the database.
Support of multiple views of the data, allowing each user to see a different view of the database.
Sharing of data and multi-user transaction processing, with concurrency control and recovery subsystems.

Advantages of Using the DBMS Approach

Controlling redundancy in data storage and development efforts, and sharing of data among multiple users.
Restricting unauthorized access to data and providing security and privilege.
Providing persistent storage for program objects and impedance mismatch problem solutions.
Providing storage structures and search techniques for efficient query processing.
Providing backup and recovery services, multiple interfaces to different classes of users, and representation of complex relationships among data.
Enforcing integrity constraints on the database and drawing inferences and actions from the stored data.

Additional Implications of Using the Database Approach

Enforcing standards, reducing application development time, flexibly changing data structures, and having current information available.
Economies of scale by consolidating data and applications across departments.

When Not to Use a DBMS

High initial investment and possible need for additional hardware are main inhibitors of using a DBMS.
The costs of providing generality, security, concurrency control, recovery, and integrity functions may outweigh the benefits in certain cases.

Description

This quiz covers the introduction to databases and database users, including course assessment information and prerequisites for IS-312 and IS-321. It's based on the Fundamentals of Database Systems 7th edition by ElMasri and Navathe.