Introduction to
CSCI 4333 Design of Database Systems

by K. Yue

1. Promotion

• This course is (hopefully) one of the more useful Computer Science courses for many students.
• World data is estimated to double every two years.

2. Resources

• Companion Website of our textbook: http://computerscience.jbpub.com/ricardo/ (second edition)
• Contents of the course will be based on
  1. Lecture notes posted in the course website: http://dcm.uhcl.edu/yue/courses/csci4333/current/index.html.
  2. Classroom demonstrations.
  3. Textbook contents.
• Please read the appropriate pages in the textbook and lecture notes in this site before coming to the class. It is a good idea to print out the notes and bring them to the class so you can make notes during the class.

3. Introduction

• Persistent data is the backbone of many applications.
• Three main choices of storing persistent data:
  1. Files
  2. Databases: focus of this course.
  3. Cloud-Based Storage
• Advantages of DBMS (according to Ricardo):
  1. Sharing of data
  2. Control of redundancy
  3. Data consistency
  4. Improved data standards
  5. Better data security
  6. Improved data integrity
  7. Balance of conflicting requirements
  8. Faster development of new applications
  9. Better data accessibility
  10. Economy of scale
  11. More control over concurrency
  12. Better backup and recovery procedures
• How do we make sense of 12 different advantages?
  • Different textbooks may have different collections of the advantages of DBMS because of different classifications.
  • No need to memorize them.
  • Better to assimilate them and construct your own list.
  • Make your own notes. Use SEE-I (In your own words, state, elaborate, exemplify and illustrate the concept.)
  • Learning through documentation, communications and teaching.
• What are the disadvantages of DBMS?

Classroom discussion (if time allows)

Study the sample University Database in Ricardo: pages 3 and 4. Write down any comments and questions you may have.

A Simple Introduction to the Relational Model

• Relational databases are the most popular databases. It is based on the relational model.
• There are many other data models.
• In layman's term. A table (relation) is the basic unit of a relational database.
• A table is composed of many rows.
• Each row has many column values.
• Microsoft's Access is based on the relational model. It may be considered as a desktop relational DBMS.
• SQL is the 'glue' in many DB systems.

Classroom discussion

Please ask questions about the toy University DB in Access of the textbook: toyu.accdb