Midterm Flashcards
Data
Human-made symbols invented for tracking and communication purposes
Metadata
Data descriptions specifying data content, relationships, and type; skeleton of a database.
Database
A collection of organized data (electronic or paper format). A set of records. Database is a part of a database system.
Database Management System (DBMS)
A software package for creating and managing databases and other elements of a database system.
DBMS Product (Database Product)
A certain brand of DBMS; DBMS produced by a software vendor (e.g., MS Access, Sybase, Informix).
Database System (DBMS Application, Application)
An implementation of a DBMS product that includes one or more databases, code, logic and user interface, and is designed to support organizational information needs. The data infrastructure of organizations upon which specific-purpose information systems are built. A DB system with an output designed according to particular business needs can be thought of as an information system.
Record
A logical unit of organizing data; a set of data describing an instance of a thing that a database system keeps a track of. In the object oriented methodology, a record usually tracks an object.
DBMS Components
Database engine (Data & Metadata management, Security Management), Query processor (Retrieval), Report writer (Input/Output; User Interface), Application generator (System Development tools).
CRUD
Create, Read, Update, Delete
File Programming Approach (also called Flat File Systems, File/File Processing Systems)
Data Files and program files (code) that work on data files, or data and code in the same file.
Hierarchical database
An older DBMS type that organizes data in hierarchies that can be rapidly searched from top to bottom, e.g., Customer – Order – OrderItem.
Network database
An older DBMS type that expanded the hierarchical database by supporting multiple connections between entities. A network database is characterized by the requirement that all connections had to be supported by an index.
Relational database
The most popular type of DBMS. All data is stored in tables (sometimes called relations). Tables are logically connected by the data they hold (e.g., through the key values). Relational databases should be designed through data normalization.
Object-Oriented Databases
The goal is to define
objects that can be reused in many programs—thus saving time and reducing errors.
Object-Relational DB Systems
- More frequent than pure object-oriented systems.
- Architecture:
- -Database is relational
- -Objects are created in main memory according to class diagram and business rules, and populated by data from the relational databases.
- -System operations, then, performed by objects.
Database Engine Components
data dictionary, concurrency and lock manager, recovery manager, disk space manager
Data-Program Dependence
File systems; tight coupling between data and code—programs working on data
Data-Program Independence
Database approach; decoupling of code, data, and metadata
Class Diagram
A static model of classes and their relationships (classes & relationships) and write business rules.
Entity
The aspect of reality recorded in the system. (Example: Customer) (DEFINITION: An item in the real world that we wish to identify and track.)
Class
Description of an entity, which includes its attributes (properties) and behavior (methods, procedures). (Example: Customer, includes attributes and behavior) (DEFINITION: A descriptor for a set of objects with similar structure, behavior, and relationships. That is, a class is the model description of the business entity. A business model might have an Employee class, where one specific employee is an object in that class.)
Object (Class Instance)
One instance of a class with specific data; a record in a database. (Example: 12257, Joe Jones… (a specific customer)) (DEFINITION: An instance or particular example of a class. For example, in an Employee class, one individual employee would be an object. In a relational environment, a class is stored as a table, while an individual row in the table contains data for one object.)
Property (Attribute)
a data property of a class; an aspects of an entity. (Example: CustID, Name…) (DEFINITION: A feature or characteristic of an entity. An attribute will become a column in a data table. Employee attributes might include name, address, date hired, and phone.)
Method (Procedure, Behavior)
Procedures (methods, processes, functions) performed by the class. (Example: AddCustomer, DeleteCustomer… CRUD). (DEFINITION: A function or operation that a class can perform. For example, a Customer class would generally have an AddNew method that is called whenever a new customer object is added to the database.)
Degree of Association
Association Degree refers to the number of classes involved in an association: 1) Class with itself - unary: rare. 2) Between 2 classes - binary (previous slide); most frequent and most important!) 3) Between 3 or more classes - N-ary; rare. (A Association is a connection between classes or between entities).
Association Multiplicity (Cardinality)
- One-to-many (1:M) (Example: Customer-Order)
- Many-to-many (M:N) (Example: Order-Item)
- One-to-one (1:1) (Example:Customer-BillingAddress)
(A Multiplicity refers to the number of objects participating in a relationship)
Minimum Multiplicity
1 or 1…1
Maximum Multiplicity
- or 0…*
N-ary Association
An association among three or more classes. It is drawn as a diamond on a UML class diagram. The term comes from extending English terms: unary means one, binary means two, ternary means four; so N-ary means many.
Multiplicity Question
One object on your side of the association can be associated with how many objects on the opposite side of the association? The switch side and ask the same question.
Or, how many objects on your side of the association can be associated with one object on the opposite side of the association? The switch side and ask the same question.
Generalization
A relationship among classes that begins with a generic class. More detailed classes are derived from it and inherit the properties and methods of the higher-level classes.
Aggregation
The generic name for several SQL functions that operate across the selected rows. Common examples include SUM, COUNT, and AVERAGE.
Composition
A relationship in which an object is composed of a collection of other objects. For example, a bicycle is built from components. In UML, it is indicated with a small filled diamond on the association end.
Inheritance
In object-oriented design, the ability to define new classes that are derived from higher-level classes. New classes inherit all prior properties and methods, so the programmer only needs to define new properties and methods.
Polymorphism
In a class hierarchy each new class inherits methods from the prior classes. Through polymorphism you can override those definitions and assign a new method (with the same name) to the new class.
Computed Attribute
Denotes computed values. Written with a slash (/). Common example in business DB system: Sub = Item’s Sale Price * Quantity Sold
Event
Something that arises during database or form operations. Events are named and developers can write code that is executed when a specific event is triggered. (Example: Change in organization: Item is sold) Look at Trigger.
Trigger
An event that causes a procedure to be executed. For example, clicking a button can be a trigger, as can a change in a data value. (Example: Change in organization: Decrease inventory count) Look at Event.