Database Design and Performance

Abstract

A database management system (DBMS) is a software tool that serves as an intermediary between the data and the programs or users who are seeking access to it. The collection of data, stored according to the rules of the DBMS and accessible only through it, is referred to as the database. A DBMS establishes an environment in which data is standardized and shared among different applications. It provides common services such as data security and backup and recovery. It also provides a level of data independence, which means that programs that use the data are not dependent on the way that the data is physically stored. The chapter reviews four-database structure: the relational models, pseudo-relational models, the hierarchical and network models. All are capable of non-redundant data storage, data integration, and the handling of one-to-many and many-to-many relationships. The chapter also discusses the logical database design techniques designed to develop data structures that will store the data according to the tenets of database management. The chapter discusses the ability of each of these logical design techniques to design structures for any of the four database models. The performance modifications that can be made to the data structures under the heading of physical database design are also summarized in the chapter. © 1990, Academic Press Inc.

Publication Title

Advances in Computers

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