DATABASE FUNDAMENTALS

CONCEPTS

The term database refers to a collection of related data from which the users can efficiently
retrieve the desired information. In addition to the storage and retrieval of data, certain other
operations can also be performed on a database. These operations include adding, updating
and deleting data. All these operations on a database are performed using a database
management system (DBMS). Essentially, a DBMS is a computerized record-keeping
system. In this topic we will be introduced to the basic terminology used in a database
management system (such as normalisation, entities, attributes, keys, relational database
management systems, structured query language).

Table of Contents
I. DATA, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................... 2
II. DATABASE: DEFINITION........................................................................................................... 3
III. DATA CONCEPTS .................................................................................................................... 5
IV. DATA INTEGRITY ................................................................................................................. 10
V. DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ................................................................................... 11
VI. DATABASE MODELS ............................................................................................................ 12
VII. DATABASE NORMALIZATION ........................................................................................... 14
VIII. INTRODUCTION TO QUERIES ............................................................................................ 18

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I. DATA, INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

I.1 Definitions
Data can be anything such as a number, a person's name, images, sounds and so on. Hence,
data can be defined as a set of isolated and unrelated raw facts (represented by values), which
have little or no meaning because they lack a context for evaluation (e.g. ‘Monica’, ‘36’,
‘chief’ …). When the data are processed and converted into a meaningful and useful form, it
is known as information. Hence, information can be defined as a set of organized and
validated collection of data. For example, 'Monica is 35 years old and she is a chef'.

Strictly speaking, data refer to the values physically recorded in the database, whereas
information refers to the conclusion or meaning drawn out of it. With respect to database,
these terms are synonymous.

Other than data and information, one more term, knowledge, is frequently used with database
technology. Knowledge is the act of understanding the context in which the information is
used. It can be based on learning through information, experience and/or intuition.

Figure 1. Data, Information and Knowledge

Data Model: A data model is a representation of a real world situation about which data is
to be collected and stored in a database. A data model depicts the dataflow and logical
interrelationships among different data elements.

I.2 Prerequisites of Information

Information is the processed data, on which decisions are taken and the subsequent actions
are performed thereafter. For the decisions to be meaningful and useful, the information must
possess the following qualities:

- Accurate: To be useful, information must be accurate at all levels because all further
developments are based on the available information.
- Timely: Information is appreciated only if it is available on time.
- Complete: Complete information tends to be comprehensive in covering the issue or
topic of interest.
- Precise: Information should be to the point, containing all the essential elements of
the relevant subject areas.
- Relevant: Information is relevant if it can be applied to a specific situation, problem
or issue of interest.

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I.3 Need for Information

Information is an important part of our day-to-day life. Almost all activities are affected by
the quantity as well as the quality of information. Some of the common usages of information
are discussed as follows.

I.3.1 Information and Decision-making:

Decision-making is the process of identifying, selecting and implementing the best possible
alternative. The right information, in the right form and at the right time is essential to make
correct decisions.

I.3.2 Information and Communication:

Information is vital for communication and is a critical resource for performing work in
organizations. Business managers spend most of their day in communicating with other
managers, subordinates, customers, vendors and so on. A manager must keep track of the
information flow from the sources inside and outside the organization.

I.3.3 Information and Knowledge:

The future is shaped by our actions today, and these actions are based upon our knowledge.
Therefore, for achieving higher levels of success, one must be well informed and should have
clarity of information.

I.3.4 Information and Productivity:

Information helps in making sense of our environment, which assists in achieving the
performance objectives. In fact, productivity is directly related to the availability and value of
the information and its application in the related context.

II. DATABASE: DEFINITION

A database is a collection of non-redundant data which can be shared by different

application systems. Although databases are generally computerized, instances of non-
computerized databases from everyday life can be cited in abundance. A dictionary, a
phone book, a collection of recipes and a TV guide are all common examples of non-
computerized databases. The examples of computerized databases include customer files,
employee rosters, books catalogue, equipment inventories and sales transactions.

II.1 Stages in Creating a Database

The process of creating a database can be broadly divided into two main stages:

1. Data analysis involves using a formalised methodology to create a database design.

Two widely used methods are Entity Relationship Modelling (ER) and
Normalisation.

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2. Physical implementation of that design in a database system.

II.2 Database terminologies

Within the database, the data are organized into storage containers, called tables. Tables are
made up of columns and rows. In a table, columns represent individual fields and rows
represent records of data. The following are the basic database terms.

II.2.1 Field

A field represents one related part of a table and is the smallest logical structure of storage in
a database. It holds one piece of information about an item or a subject. For example, in a
database maintaining information about employee, the fields can be Code, Deptt, Name,
Address, City and Phone (see Figure 2).

II.2.2 Record

A record is a collection of multiple related fields that can be treated as a unit. For example,
fields Code, Deptt, Name, Address, City and Phone for a particular employee form a record.
Figure 2 contains nine records (0101–0109) and each record has six fields.

II.2.3 Table

A table is a named collection of logically related multiple records. For example, a collection
of all the employee records of a company form employee table. Note that every record in a
table has the same set of fields. Depending on the database software, a table can also be
referred to as a file. The collection of multiple related files (tables) forms the database.

Figure 2. Fields and Records in a Table

II.2.4 Data Type

A data type determines the type of data that can be stored in a column. Although many data
types are available, the four most commonly used data types are Character, Numeric,
Boolean and DateTime. The values for this data type vary widely depending on the database
management software being used.

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Data type Character Numeric Boolean DateTime

Field Name Name Salary Is_Married Joining_Date
Data Placide 450000 False (No) 02/10/98

II.1.5 Data Dictionary

Apart from the data, the database also stores metadata, which describes the tables, columns,
indexes, constraints and other items that make up the database. In simple words, metadata is
the data about data. This metadata is stored in an area called the data dictionary. Hence, a
data dictionary defines the basic organization of a database.

Most database systems keep the data dictionary hidden from users to prevent them from
accidentally destroying its contents. Different users use the dictionary in different ways.

- The database administrator (DBA) needs a dictionary to ensure consistency among

the data items, to educate users about the database content and to help ensure that
different department defines the same data in the same way.
- The programmers may use it to ensure that they have the name and coding of the
data items or segments correct in their programs.
- Managers may use it as a guide to decide what data could be made available to them.

III. DATA CONCEPTS

III.1 Physical Data Concepts

Physical concepts of data refer to the manner in which the data are physically stored on the
hardware (like hard disk). Fundamentally, it involves the physical organization of the records
of a file for the convenience of storage and retrieval of data. Usually, the files are organized
in three fashions: sequential, direct and indexed sequential.

III.1.1 Sequential Files

In sequential files, the data are stored and/or retrieved in a logical order, that is, in a
sequence. The records are stored one after the other in an ascending or descending order,
based on the key field (which is unique for each record) of the records. Generally, these files
are stored on sequential storage devices such as magnetic tapes and punched cards. In such
files, to retrieve a record, all the records must be traversed sequentially before reaching to the
desired record. An analogy to sequential files may be taken as an audio cassette.

III.1.2 Direct Files

Direct files facilitate accessing any record directly or randomly without having to traverse the
sequence of records. These files are also known as random or relative files. Even though only
one item can be accessed at a time, that item may be stored anywhere in the file. For
example, in case of CDs

III.1.3 Indexed Sequential Files

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Essentially, indexed sequential technique is a hybrid of sequential and direct file

organization. The indexed file organization uses a separate index file, which contains the key
values and the location of the corresponding record. The records are organized in an orderly
sequence and the index table is used to access the records without searching through the
entire file.

Figure 3. Indexed Sequential Access

III.2 Logical Data Concepts

Once the requirements of the user have been specified, the next step is to construct an
abstract or conceptual model of a database based on the requirements of the user. The
conceptual model represents various pieces of data and their relationships at a very high
level of abstraction. It mainly focuses on what data are required and how it should be
organized rather than what operations are to be performed on the data. The conceptual model
can be represented using Entity-Relationship model (E-R model). The E-R model views the
real world as a set of basic objects (known as entities), their characteristics (known as
attributes) and associations among these objects (known as relationships).

III.2.1 Entity

An entity is any object in the system that we want to model and store information about.
Entities are usually recognizable concepts, either concrete or abstract, such as person, places,
things, or events which have relevance to the database. Some specific examples of entities are
Employee, Student, Lecturer. An entity is analogous to a table in the relational model.

An entity occurrence is an instance of an entity. For example, in the student entity, the
information about each individual student details is an entity occurrence, An entity
occurrence can also be referred to as a record. By convention, entities are represented by
rectangles:

III.2.2 Attributes

An attribute is an item of information which is stored about an entity. For example, the
entity 'lecturer' could have attributes such as staff id, surname, forename, date of birth,
telephone number, etc. By convention, an attribute is represented by a diamond linked to the
corresponding entity:

III.2.3 Relationship

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Relationship is an association, dependency or link between two or more entities and is

represented by a diamond symbol. A relationship describes how two or more entities are
related to each other. For example, the relationship Buys (shown in Figure 4) associates the
CUSTOMER entity with ITEMS entity.

Figure 4. Entities, Attributes and Relationship

III.3 Types of Relationship

Even though a relationship may involve more than two entities, the most commonly
encountered relationships are binary, involving exactly two entities. Generally, such binary
relationships are of three types and called cardinality: one-to-one, one-to-many and many-
to-many.

a) One-to-one Relationship (1:1)

One-to-one is where one occurrence of an entity relates to only one occurrence in another
entity, eg if a man only marries one woman and a woman only marries one man, it is a one-
to-one (1:1) relationship.

Fig 5 : One-to-One

b) One-to-many Relationship (1:M)

A one-to-many relationship is where one occurrence in an entity relates to many

occurrences in another entity. For instance one manager manages many employees, but
each -employee only has one manager, so it is a one-to many (1:m) relationship.

Fig 6: One-to-Many

The crowbar represents the Many occurrence.

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c) Many-to-many Relationship (M:M)

In many-to-many relationship, one record in a table can be related to one or more records in a
second table, and one or more records in the second table can be related to one or more
records in the first table. For example, One teacher teaches many students and a student is
taught by many teachers.

Fig 7 Many-to-Many relationship

III.4 Keys
A key is a data item that allows us to uniquely identify individual occurrences or an entity
type. You can sort and quickly retrieve information from a database by choosing one or more
fields (ie attributes) to act as keys. For instance, in a student's table you could use a
combination of the last name and first name fields (or perhaps last name, first name and birth
dates to ensure you identify each student uniquely) as a key field. There exist many types of
keys:

a) Primary Key:

A field or a set of fields that uniquely identify each record in a table is known as a primary
key. This implies that no two records in the relation can have same value for the primary key.
For example, your student number is a primary key as this uniquely identifies you within the
college student records system. An employee number uniquely identifies a member of staff
within a company. An IP address uniquely addresses a PC on the internet.

A primary key is mandatory. That is, each entity occurrence must have a value for its
primary key.

b) Candidate Key:

In a table, there can be more than one field that can uniquely identify each record. All such
fields are known as candidate keys. One of these candidate keys is chosen as a primary key;
the other keys that are not chosen as primary key are known as alternate keys or secondary
keys.

c) Foreign Key:

A field of a table that references the primary key of another table is referred to as foreign key.
Figure 13.3 illustrates how a foreign key constraint is related to a primary key constraint.
Here, the field Item_Code in the PURCHASE table references the field Item_Code in the
ITEM relation. Thus, the attribute Item_Code in the PURCHASE relation is the foreign key.

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NOTE: The key composed of more than one field is known as composite key. Sometimes, it is
also known as concatenated key or structured key.

Figure 8. Foreign Key

d) Simple Key

Any of the keys described before (ie: primary, secondary or foreign) may have one or more
attributes. A simple key consists of a single attribute to uniquely identify an entity
occurrence, for example, a student number, which uniquely identifies a particular student. No
two students would have the same student number.

e) Compound Key

A compound key consists of more than one attribute to uniquely identify an entity
occurrence. Each attribute, which makes up the key, is also a simple key in its own right.

For example, we have an entity named enrolment, which holds the courses on which a
student is enrolled. In this scenario a student is allowed to enrol on more than one course.
This has a compound key of both student number and course number, which is required to
uniquely identify a student on a particular course.

Fig 9: a compound key

Student number and course number combined is a compound primary key for the enrolment
entity.

f) Composite Key

A composite key consists of more than one attribute to uniquely identify an entity
occurrence. This differs from a compound key in that one or more of the attributes, which
make up the key, are not simple keys in their own right.

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For example, you have a database holding your CD collection. One of the entities is called
tracks, which holds details of the tracks on a CD. This has a composite key of CD name,
track number.

Fig 10: a composite key

CD name in the track entity is a simple key, linking to the CD entity, but track number is not
a simple key in its own right.

Application exercise
For each of the following entities, list possible primary keys. Then, suggest secondary keys,
if any: Student, Course, Unit, Result, Classroom, Lecturer, Department, Attendance

IV. DATA INTEGRITY

Integrity ensures that the data in a database is both accurate and complete, in other words,
that the data makes sense. There are at least five different types of integrity that need to be
considered: Domain constraints, Entity integrity, Column constraints, User-defined
integrity constraints, Referential integrity. The data analysis stage will identify the
requirements of these.

 Domain Constraints: A domain is defined as the set of all unique values permitted
for an attribute. For example, a domain of Date is the set of all possible valid dates, a
domain of Integer is all possible whole numbers, and a domain of day-of-week is
Monday, Tuesday ... Sunday.
 Entity Integrity: It implies that no component of a primary key is allowed to have a
NULL value.
 Column Constraints: During the data analysis phase, business rules will identify any
column constraints. For example, a salary cannot be negative; an employee number
must be in the range 1000 - 2000, etc.
 User-Defined Integrity Constraints: Business rules may dictate that when a specific
action occurs, further actions should be triggered. For example, deletion of a record
automatically writes that record to an audit table.
 Referential Integrity: It implies that if a foreign key is defined in one table, any of
its value must exist as a primary key in another table.

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V. DATABASE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

V.1 Definition
To carry out operations like insertion, deletion and retrieval, the database needs to be
managed by a software package. This software is called a database management system
(DBMS). Hence, DBMS can be defined as a collection of interrelated data and a set of
programs to access that data.

Database system: Database system is a general term that refers to the combination of a
database, a database management system and a data model. This system is responsible for the
following data manipulation acts; data controlling, data retrieving, data maintenance and data
definition.

Figure 11: a database system

V.2 Advantages and Limitations of a DBMS

A good database management system (DBMS) should provide the following advantages over
a conventional system:

Advantages

→ Reduction in Data Redundancy: Data redundancy refers to duplication of data. In

nondatabase systems, each application has its own separate files. This can often lead
to redundancy in stored data, which results in wastage of space.
→ Reduction in data Inconsistency: Data inconsistency is when different versions of
the same data appear in different places in a database. This causes unreliable
information, because it is difficult to determine which version of the information is
correct.
→ Sharing of Data: Sharing of data allows the existing applications to use the data in
the database simultaneously.
→ Improvement in Data Security: DBMS can ensure that the only means of accessing
the database is through the authorized channel. Hence, data security checks can be

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carried out whenever access is attempted to sensitive data. To ensure security, DBMS
provides security tools such as user codes and passwords.
→ Maintenance of Data Integrity: Data integrity means the consistency and accuracy
of the data in the database.
→ Better Interaction with Users: Centralizing the data in a database also means that
users can obtain new and combined information that would have been impossible to
obtain otherwise. In addition, use of a DBMS allows the users, who do not know
programming, to interact with the data more easily.

However, the following can be viewed as some of the limitations of a database:

Disadvantages

→ Database systems are complex, difficult, and time-consuming to design

→ Substantial hardware and software start-up costs
→ Damage to database affects virtually all applications programs
→ Extensive conversion costs in moving form a file-based system to a database system
→ Initial training required for all programmers and users

V.3 examples of Database Management System (DBMS)

Some of the database management systems are:

1) Microsoft Access : This is the database management system developed by Microsoft.

2) MySQL : MySQL is open source database management system, one of the most
popular dbms on the web. It is reliable, fast and also flexible.
3) Oracle : Developed by Oracle corporation. It is object relational database
management system. The original version of Oracle software was developed by
Software Development Laboratories (SDL). Oracle is regarded to be one of the safe
DBMS.
4) Microsoft SQL Server : Microsoft developed this relational database server. The
primary function of this software is to store and retrieve the data as requested by other
applications, whether those applications are on the same computer or running on other
computers across the network (including internet).
5) Filemaker : Filemaker began as a MS-DOS based computer program named nutshell.
It is a cross platform RDBMS developed by Filemaker Inc.

VI. DATABASE MODELS

A database model or simply a data model is an abstract model that describes how the data
are organized and represented. A data model consists of two parts, which are as follows:

• A mathematical notation for describing the data and relationships

• A set of operations used to manipulate that data

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Every database and DBMS is based on a particular database model. There are four basic
types of database models—hierarchical, network, relational and object-oriented. These
models provide different conceptualizations of the database and they have different outlooks
and perspectives.

VI.1 Hierarchical Database Model

The hierarchical data model is the oldest type of data model, developed by IBM in 1968. This
data model organizes the data in a tree-like structure in which each child node (also known as
dependents) can have only one parent node. In other words, a hierarchal database is a
collection of records connected to one another through links. The top of the tree structure
consists of a single node that does not have any parent and is called the root node.

The main advantage of the hierarchical data model is that the data access is quite predictable
in structure, and therefore, both retrieval and updates can be highly optimized by a DBMS.
However, the main drawback of this model is that the links are 'hard coded' into the data
structure, that is, the links are permanently established and cannot be modified.

VI.2 Network Database Model

In a network model, the data are represented by a collection of records and the relationships
among data are represented by links. A link is an association between precisely two records.

The main limitation of the network data model is that it can be quite complicated to maintain
all the links and a single broken link can lead to problems in the database. In addition, since
there are no restrictions on the number of links, the database design can become
overwhelmingly complex.

VI.3 Object-oriented Database Model

The object-oriented model is a relatively new data model and provides an outlook for the
future database models. An object-oriented database stores and maintains objects. An object
is an item that can contain both the data and the procedures that manipulate the data. For
example, a student object might contain not only data about a student's name, roll number and
address, but also procedures on some tasks such as printing the student record or calculating
the student's tuition fees.

Like the other models, the object model assumes that objects can conceptually be collected
together into meaningful groups known as classes.

VI.4 Relational Database

A relational database is a collection of data items organized as a set of formally-described
tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without
having to reorganize the database tables. The relational database was invented by E. F. Codd
at IBM in 1970.

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The relational data model represents the database as a collection of simple two-dimensional
tables called tables or relations. The rows of a relation are referred to as tupples and the
columns are referred to as attributes. The relationship between the two relations is
implemented through a common attribute in the relations and not by physical links or
pointers.

Fig 12: a relational database

VII. DATABASE NORMALIZATION

Normalisation is a process which we analyze and alter a database relation in order to get more
concise and organized data structures. Normalised data is stable and has a natural structure.
We call a relation normalized if:

 it does not contain any redundancy

 it does not cause maintenance problems
 it is an accurate representation of the data
Relations that aren't normalised contain non-atomic attributes and therefore can contain
redundant information. Detailed planning of the ERM can help creating normalised relations.
The following steps will explain how existing relations can be normalised step by step.

VII.1 Dependencies
In order to be able to normalise a relation according to the three normal forms, we must first
understand the concept of dependency between attributes within a relation.

VII.1.1 Functional dependency:

If A and B are attributes of relation R, B is functionally dependenton A (denoted A --> B), if

each value of A in R is associated with exactly one value of B in R.

Example:
ID Name The attribute Name is functionally dependent of attribute ID (ID --> Name).
S1 Meier
S2 Weber

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VII.1.2 Identification key:

If every attribute B of R is functionally dependent of A, than attribute A is a primary key.

Example:

ID Name Surname Attribute ID is the identification key

S1 Meier Hans
S2 Weber Ueli

VII.1.3 Full functional dependency:

We talk about full functional dependency if attribute B is functional dependent on A, if A is a

composite primary key and B is not already functional dependent on parts of A.

Example

IDStudent Name IDProfessor Grade The attribute Grade is fully functional dependent
S1 Meier P2 5 on the attributes IDStudent and IDProfessor.

S2 Weber P1 6

VII.1.4 Transitive dependency:

If A determines B and B determines C then C is determined by (dependent on) A. We write A

--> B and B --> C but not B --> A.

Example:

ID Name Konto_Nr Bank_Code_No Bank There is a transitive dependency between

L1 Meier 1234-5 836 UBS Bank_Code_No and Bank because
Bank_Code_No is not the primary key of the
L2 Weber 5432-1 835 CS
relation.

VII.2 First normal form (1NF)

A table is in first normal form (1NF) if a relation cannot have repeating fields or groups (no
field must have more than one value): To do it, we have to:
a) Eliminate duplicative columns from the same table.

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b) Create separate tables for each group of related data and identify each row with a
unique column or set of columns (the primary key).

Example
Student(Surname, Name, Skills)
The attribute Skills can contain multiple values and therefore the relation is not in the first
normal form.
But the attributes Name and Surname are
atomic attributes that can contain only one
value.
Example First normal form
To get to the first normal form (1NF) we
must create a separate tuple for each value of
the multivalued attribute

VII.3 Second normal form (2NF)

A table is in second normal form (2NF) if it is
in 1NF and every non-key field must be
functionally dependent on all of the key. To do
it, one should:
a) Remove subsets of data that apply to
multiple rows of a table and place
them in separate tables.
b) Create relationships between these
new tables and their predecessors
through the use of foreign keys.

Example
A university uses the following relation:
Student(IDSt, StudentName, IDProf,
ProfessorName, Grade)

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The attributes IDSt and IDProf are the identification keys. All attributes a single valued
(1NF).

The following functional dependencies exist:

 The attribute ProfessorName is functionally dependent on attribute IDProf (IDProf -->
ProfessorName)
 The attribute StudentName is functionally dependent on IDSt (IDSt --> StudentName)
 The attribute Grade is fully functional dependent on IDSt and IDProf (IDSt, IDProf -->
Grade)
Example Second normal form
The table in this example is in first normal form (1NF) since all attributes are single valued.
But it is not yet in 2NF. If student 1 leaves university and the tuple is deleted, then we loose
all information about professor Schmid, since this attribute is fully functional dependent on
the primary key IDSt. To solve this problem, we must create a new table Professor with the
attribute Professor (the name) and the key IDProf. The third table Grade is necessary for
combining the two relations Student and Professor and to manage the grades. Besides the
grade it contains only the two IDs of the student and the professor. If now a student is
deleted, we do not loose the information about the professor.

VII.4 Third normal form (3NF)

A table is in third normal form (3NF) if it is in 2NF and There is no transitive
dependency, that is an attribute depends on one or more other non-key attributes. We the
have to remove columns that are not dependent upon the primary key.

Example
A bank uses the following relation:
Vendor(ID, Name, Account_No, Bank_Code_No, Bank)
The attribute ID is the primary key. All attributes are single valued (1NF). The table is also in
2NF. The following dependencies exist:
1. Name, Account_No, Bank_Code_No are functionally dependent on ID (ID -->
Name, Account_No, Bank_Code_No)
2. Bank is functionally dependent on Bank_Code_No (Bank_Code_No --> Bank)
Example Third normal form
The table in this example is in 1NF
and in 2NF. But there is a transitive
dependency between Bank_Code_No
and Bank, because Bank_Code_No is
not the primary key of this relation.
To get to the third normal form (3NF),
we have to put the bank name in a
separate table together with the
clearing number to identify it.

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VII.5 Fourth normal form (4NF)

A relation is in 4NF if it has no multi-valued dependencies. In practice we rarely need to
apply the 4NF to a database.

VIII. INTRODUCTION TO QUERIES

When referring to a database, a query is an option used to locate information within a

database. For example you could query a database to find all related tables that match the
state of "Utah" in the United States. The database could then return all people logged in the
database that live in Utah. The most known and most used query language is SQL (Structured
Query Language). A form is a page that contains a listing of fields that are required to be
filled out.

A report is a file or view of data formatted in a way that allows the user to see a large
amount of data from documents or a database. This helps the user get a quick overview of
their data or allows them to present a lot of data easily.

VIII.1 Introduction to SQL

SQL (Structured Query Language) is a database query language developed by IBM in the
1970s as a way of getting information into and out of relational DBMSs. A fundamental
difference between SQL and standard programming languages is that SQL is declarative, that
is, the user has to specify what kind of data are required from the database and the RDBMS is
responsible for figuring out the way to retrieve it.

VIII.2 Basic operations in a RDB

In a relational database, three basic operations are used to develop useful sets of data:
selection, projection and join.

 The selection operation retrieves certain records from a relation based on the user-
specified criteria.
 The projection operation extracts fields from a relation, permitting the user to create
new relations that contain only the required information.
 The join operation combines the data from the two relations based on a common
column, providing the user with more information than is available in individual
relations.

Together, these three operations are part of relational algebra. Relational database systems
use a query language called Structured Query Language (SQL) to implement relational
algebra operations.

VIII.3 SQL Data Types

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When the table is defined every field in it is assigned a data type. The type of a data value
both defines and constrains the kinds of operations, which may be performed on it. Some of
the most commonly used SQL data types are as follows:

• CHAR(size): It defines a fixed size-length character string (can contain letters,

numbers and special characters), where size can be a maximum of 255.
• VARCHAR(size): It defines a variable length character string (can contain letters,
numbers and special characters) of up to size characters.
• NUMBER(size): It defines an integer-type data with maximum number of digits up
to size specified in parenthesis.
• DATE: This type of data is used to store date. By default, the format is YYYY-MM-
DD.
• NUMBER(size, decimal): It holds numbers with fractions. The maximum numbers
of digits are specified in size. The maximum number of digits to the right of the
decimal is specified in decimal.

VIII.4 SQL Basic Commands

SQL commands can be divided into two main sublanguages—DDL and DML

• Data Definition Language: DDL is used to create and delete database and its objects.
These commands are primarily used by the DBA during the building and removal
phases of a database project. The most important DDL statements in SQL are as
follows:
- CREATE TABLE: To create a new table.
- ALTER TABLE: To modify the structure of a table.
- DROP TABLE: To delete a table.
• Data Manipulation Language: DML is used to retrieve, insert, modify and delete
database information. These commands will be used by all database users during the
routine operation of the database. The most important DML statements in SQL are the
following:
- INSERT: To insert data into a table.
- UPDATE: To update data in a table.
- DELETE: To delete data from a table.
- SELECT: To retrieve data from a table.

NOTE: All SQL queries must be terminated by a semicolon (;) even if the statement extends
over many lines.

VIII.4.1 CREATE TABLE Command

The CREATE TABLE command is used to define the structure of the table.

Syntax: Example:
CREATE TABLE <tablename> ( CREATE TABLE EMPLOYEE(
<field1> <data type>, Code NUMBER(5),
< field2> <data type>, Deptt CHAR(10),

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... ... ... ... ... Name CHAR(20),

< fieldN> <data type>); Address CHAR(100),
Telephone CHAR(8)
Salary NUMBER(8,2));

• The table and column names must start with a letter followed by letters, numbers or
underscores.
• Avoid using SQL keywords as names for tables or columns (such as SELECT,
CREATE, and INSERT).
• For each column, a name and a data type must be specified and the column name
must be unique within the table definition.
• Each column definition should be separated with a comma.

VIII.4.2 ALTER TABLE Command

The ALTER TABLE command allows a user to change the structure of an existing table.

• New columns can be added with the ADD clause.

• Existing columns can be modified with the MODIFY clause.
• Columns can be removed from a table by using the DROP clause.

Syntax:
ALTER TABLE <tablename>
<ADD | MODIFY | DROP column(s)>;

Examples: Explanation
1 ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEE command will add a new column, named Email,
ADD Email CHAR(25); having a maximum width of 25
characters in the EMPLOYEE table.
2 ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEE command will change the maximum width of the
MODIFY Name CHAR(25); Name column to 25 characters in the EMPLOYEE
table.
3 ALTER TABLE EMPLOYEE command will delete the Deptt column from the
DROP Deptt; EMPLOYEE table.

VIII.4.3 DROP TABLE Command

The DROP TABLE command removes the table definition (with all records).

• Columns can be removed from a table by using the DROP clause.

Syntax: Examples:
DROP TABLE <tablename>; DROP TABLE EMPLOYEE;
The above SQL command will delete the EMPLOYEE table.

VIII.4.4 INSERT Command

The INSERT command is used to insert or add rows (records) into the specified table.

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Syntax:
INSERT INTO <tablename> (
column1, column2, ..., columnN)
VALUES (value1, value2, ..., valueN);
Examples Explanation
1 INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE ( example 1 will add a new record at the
Code, Deptt, Name, Address, Salary) bottom of the EMPLOYEE table
VALUES (101, 'RD01', 'Prince', 'Park Way', consisting of the values in parenthesis.
15000);
2 INSERT INTO EMPLOYEE
VALUES (102, 'RD01', 'Pankaj', 'Pitampura',
26062700, 8000);
Note that for each of the listed columns, a matching value must be specified. In case no
column list is specified, then a value must be given for each column and in the same order as
specified in the CREATE TABLE command.

VIII.4.5 UPDATE Command

The UPDATE command is used for modifying attribute values of records in a table.

Syntax:
UPDATE <tablename>
SET column1 = value1
[, column2 = value2]
... ... ... ... ...
[, columnN = valueN]
[WHERE <condition>];
Note that components specified inside the square brackets [] are optional.

Examples Explanation
1 UPDATE EMPLOYEE example 1 command will update (in our case,
SET Salary = Salary + 1000; increments) the Salary field with 1000 for all the records.
2 UPDATE EMPLOYEE Example 2 command will increment the Salary column
SET Salary = Salary + 1000 with 1000 for only those rows that comply with
WHERE Deptt = 'RD01'; condition specified in WHERE clause (Deptt = 'RD01').

VIII.4.6 DELETE Command

The DELETE command is used to delete all or selected records from the specified table.

Syntax: Example:
DELETE FROM <tablename> DELETE FROM EMPLOYEE
[WHERE <condition>]; WHERE Salary > 8000;

NOTE: If WHERE condition is not used in the DELETE command, then all the records from
the specified table will be deleted.

VIII.4.7 SELECT command

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The SELECT statement is used to query the database and retrieve selected data.

Syntax:
SELECT <column1, column2, column3,...., columnN>
FROM <tablename>
[WHERE <condition>]
[GROUP BY <column1, column2, column3,...., columnN>]
[HAVING <condition>]
[ORDER BY <column1, column2, column3,...., columnN [ASC|DESC]>];

To select all the columns of a table, use * instead of column list with SELECT.

Examples Explanation
1 SELECT Code, Name, Salary The SELECT statement selects the values of the three
FROM EMPLOYEE; specified columns from the EMPLOYEE table. This
operation is called projection.
2 SELECT * The SELECT statement selects all those columns from
FROM EMPLOYEE EMPLOYEE table in which the Salary column contains a
WHERE Salary > 7500; value greater than 7500. This operation is called selection.
SELECT * the SELECT statement displays the result in a descending
FROM EMPLOYEE order by the attribute Name.
WHERE Salary > 7500
ORDER BY Name DESC;

The ORDER BY clause specifies a sorting order in which the result tuples of a query are to
be displayed; DESC specifies a descending order. By default, ORDER BY arranges the
result set in ascending order (whether one uses ASC or not).

VIII.5 SQL Joins

An SQL JOIN clause is used to combine rows from two or more tables, based on a common
field between them. SQL specifies two main types of JOIN: Inner Join and Outer Join

VIII.5.1 Inner Join

The INNER JOIN creates a new result table by combining column values of two tables
(table1 and table2) based upon the join-predicate. The query compares each row of table1
with each row of table2 to find all pairs of rows which satisfy the join-predicate. When the
join-predicate is satisfied, column values for each matched pair of rows of A and B are
combined into a result row.

Syntax:

The basic syntax of INNER JOIN is as follows:

SELECT table1.column1, table2.column2...

FROM table1
INNER JOIN table2

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ON table1.common_filed = table2.common_field;

Example:

Consider the following two tables,

(a) CUSTOMERS table is as follows: (b) Another table is ORDERS as follows:

ID NAME AGE ADDRESS SALARY OID DATE ID AMOUNT

1 Ramesh 32 Ahmedabad 2000.00 102 2009-10-08 3 3000
2 Khilan 25 Delhi 1500.00 100 2009-10-08 3 1500
3 kaushik 23 Kota 2000.00 101 2009-11-20 2 1560
4 Chaitali 25 Mumbai 6500.00 103 2008-05-20 4 2060
5 Hardik 27 Bhopal 8500.00 Now, let us join these two tables using
6 Komal 22 MP 4500.00 INNER JOIN as follows:
7 Muffy 24 Indore 10000.00
SQL> SELECT ID, NAME,
AMOUNT, DATE
FROM CUSTOMERS
INNER JOIN ORDERS
ON CUSTOMERS.ID =
ORDERS.CUSTOMER_ID;
This would produce the following result:

ID NAME AMOUNT DATE

3 kaushik 3000 2009-10-08
3 kaushik 1500 2009-10-08
2 Khilan 1560 2009-11-20
4 Chaitali 2060 2008-05-20

VIII.5.2 Outer join

Inner joins eliminate the rows that do not match with a row from the other table. Outer joins,
however, return all rows from at least one of the tables or views mentioned in the FROM
clause, as long as those rows meet any WHERE or HAVING search conditions. All rows are
retrieved from the left table referenced with a left outer join, and all rows from the right table
referenced in a right outer join. All rows from both tables are returned in a full outer join.

SQL Server uses the following ISO keywords for outer joins specified in a FROM clause:

 LEFT OUTER JOIN or LEFT JOIN

 RIGHT OUTER JOIN or RIGHT JOIN
 FULL OUTER JOIN or FULL JOIN

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The following example JOINs the region and branch tables on the region_nbr column. Here
are the contents of the tables:

Table: REGION Table: BRANCH

region_nbr region_name branch_nbr branch_name region_nbr employee_count
100 East Region 108 New York 100 10
200 Central Region 110 Boston 100 6
300 Virtual Region 212 Chicago 200 5
400 West Region 404 San Diego 400 6
415 San Jose 400 3
This SQL Statement with OUTER JOIN is executed:

SELECT region.region_nbr, region.region_name, branch.branch_nbr, branch.branch_name

FROM dbo.region
LEFT OUTER JOIN dbo.branch
ON branch.region_nbr = region.region_nbr
ORDER BY region.region_nbr
Here is the result. Note that the "Virtual Region" is included in the results even though it has
no rows in the branch table. This is the difference between the INNER JOIN and OUTER
JOIN.

region_nbr region_name branch_nbr branch_name

100 East Region 108 New York
100 East Region 110 Boston
200 Central Region 212 Chicago
300 Virtual Region NULL NULL
400 West Region 404 San Diego
400 West Region 415 San Jose

Exercise normalization

The following table is already in first normal form (1NF). Convert this table to the third
normal form (3NF) using the techniques you learned in this topic.

A table with the students and their grades in different topics.

UnitID StudentID Date TutorID Topic Room Grade Book TutEmail

U1 St1 23.02.03 Tut1 GMT 629 4.7 Deumlich tut1@fhbb.ch
U2 St1 18.11.02 Tut3 GIn 631 5.1 Zehnder tut3@fhbb.ch
U1 St4 23.02.03 Tut1 GMT 629 4.3 Deumlich tut1@fhbb.ch
U5 St2 05.05.03 Tut3 PhF 632 4.9 Dümmlers tut3@fhbb.ch
U4 St2 04.07.03 Tut5 AVQ 621 5.0 SwissTopo tut5@fhbb.ch

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