Database Applications

1. Universities:

It is an undeniable application of the database. Universities have so much data which can be stored in the
database, such as student information, teacher information, non-teaching staff information, course
information, section information, grade report information, and many more. University information is
kept safe and secure in the database.

2. Banking:

It is one of the major applications of databases. Banks have a huge amount of data as millions of people
have accounts that need to be maintained properly. The database keeps the record of each user in a
systematic manner. Banking databases store a lot of information about account holders. It stores customer
details, asset details, banking transactions, balance sheets, credit card and debit card details, loans, fixed
deposits, and much more. Everything is maintained with the help of a database.

3. Railway Reservation System:

It is an inevitable area of application of databases. They store information such as passenger name,
mobile number, booking status, reservation details, train schedule, employee information, account details,
seating arrangement, route & alternate route details, etc. All the information needs to be maintained, so
railways use a database management system for their efficient storage and retrieval purpose.

4. Social Media Sites:

Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone and accounts on various social media sites like Facebook,
LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, etc. People can chat with their friends and family and make new
friends from all over the world. Social media has millions of accounts, which means they have a huge
amount of data that needs to be stored and maintained. Social media sites use databases to store
information about users, images, videos, chats, etc.

5. Library Management System:

There are hundreds and thousands of books in the library, so it is not easy to maintain the records of the
books in a register or diary, so a database management system is used which maintains the information of
the library efficiently. The library database stores information like book name, issue date, author name,
book availability, book issuer name, book return details, etc.

6. E-commerce Websites:

E-commerce websites are one of the prominent applications of the database. Websites such as Flipkart,
Myntra, Amazon, Nykaa, Snapdeal, Shopify, and many more, are online shopping websites where people
buy items online. These websites have so much data. These websites use databases to securely store and
maintain customer details, product details, dealer details, purchase details, bank & card details,
transactions details, invoice details, etc. You can analyze the sales and maintain the inventory with the
help of a database.

7. Medical:

There is a lot of important data collection in the medical field, so it is necessary to use the database to
store data related to the medical field, such as patient details, medicine details, practitioner details,
surgeon details, appointment details, doctor schedule, patient discharge details, payment detail, invoices,
and other medical records. The database management system is a boon for the medical field because it
helps doctors to monitor their patients and provide better care.
8. Accounting and Finance:

When there is big data regarding accounting and finance, there is a need to maintain a large amount of
data, which is done with the help of a database. The database stores data such as accounting details, bank
details, purchases of stocks, invoice details, sales records, asset details, etc. Accounting and finance
database helps in maintaining and analyzing historical data.

9. Industries:

The database management system is the main priority of industries because they need to store huge
amounts of data. The industry database stores customer details, sales records, product lists, transactions,
etc. All the information is kept secure and maintained by the database.

10. Airline Reservation System:

It is one of the applications of database management systems that contain data such as passenger name,
passenger check-in, passenger departure, flight schedule, number of flights, distance from source to
destination, reservation information, pilot details, accounting detail, route detail, etc. The database
provides maintenance and security to airline data.

11. Telecommunication:

We cannot deny that telecommunication has brought a remarkable revolution worldwide. The Telecom
field has huge data, and it is very difficult to manage big data without a database; that is why a telecom
database is required, which stores data such as customer names, phone numbers, calling details, prepaid &
post-paid connection records, network usage, bill details, balance details, etc.

12. Manufacturing:

In the manufacturing field, a lot of data needs to be maintained regarding supply chain management, so
the database maintains the data such as product details, customer information, order details, purchase
details, payment info, worker's details, invoice, etc. Manufacturing companies produce and supply
products every day, so it is important to use a database.

13. Human Resource Management:

Any organization will definitely have employees, and if there are a large number of employees, then it
becomes essential to store data in a database as it maintains and securely saves the data, which can be
retrieved and accessed when required. The human resource database stores data such as employee name,
joining details, designation, salary details, tax information, benefits & goodies details, etc.

14. Broadcasting:

Broadcasting is distributing video and audio content to a dispersed audience by television, radio, or other
means. Broadcasting database stores data such as subscriber information, event recordings, event
schedules, etc., so it becomes important to store broadcasting data in the database.

15. Insurance:

An insurance company needs a database to store large amounts of data. Insurance database stores data
such as policy details, user details, buyer details, payment details, nominee details, address details, etc.
Data Abstraction in DBMS

Data abstraction is the procedure of concealing or hiding irrelevant or unwanted data from the end user.

What is Data abstraction in Database Management System?

The database system contains intricate or complicate data structures and relations. The developers keep
away the complex data from the user and remove the complications so that the user can comfortably
access data in the database and can only access the data they want, which is done with the help of data
abstraction.

The main purpose of data abstraction is to hide irrelevant data and provide an abstract view of the data.
With the help of data abstraction, developers hide irrelevant data from the user and provide them the
relevant data. By doing this, users can access the data without any hassle, and the system will also work
efficiently.

In DBMS, data abstraction is performed in layers which mean there are levels of data abstraction in
DBMS.

Levels of Data Abstractions in DBMS

In DBMS, there are three levels of data abstraction, which are as follows:

1. Physical or Internal Level:

The physical or internal layer is the lowest level of data abstraction in the database management
system. It is the layer that defines how data is actually stored in the database. It defines methods to
access the data in the database. It defines complex data structures in detail, so it is very complex to
understand, which is why it is kept hidden from the end user.

Data Administrators (DBA) decide how to arrange data and where to store data. The Data Administrator
(DBA) is the person whose role is to manage the data in the database at the physical or internal level.
There is a data center that securely stores the raw data in detail on hard drives at this level.

2. Logical or Conceptual Level:

The logical or conceptual level is the intermediate or next level of data abstraction. It explains what data
is going to be stored in the database and what the relationship is between them.
It describes the structure of the entire data in the form of tables. The logical level or conceptual level is
less complex than the physical level. With the help of the logical level, Data Administrators (DBA)
abstract data from raw data present at the physical level.

3. View or External Level:

View or External Level is the highest level of data abstraction. There are different views at this level that
define the parts of the overall data of the database. This level is for the end-user interaction; at this
level, end users can access the data based on their queries.

Advantages of data abstraction in DBMS

Data Independence

o Data independence can be explained using the three-schema architecture.

o Data independence refers characteristic of being able to modify the schema at one level of the
database system without altering the schema at the next higher level.

There are two types of data independence:

1. Logical Data Independence

o Logical data independence refers characteristic of being able to change the conceptual schema
without having to change the external schema.

o Logical data independence is used to separate the external level from the conceptual view.

o If we do any changes in the conceptual view of the data, then the user view of the data would
not be affected.

o Logical data independence occurs at the user interface level.

2. Physical Data Independence

o Physical data independence can be defined as the capacity to change the internal schema
without having to change the conceptual schema.

o If we do any changes in the storage size of the database system server, then the Conceptual
structure of the database will not be affected.

o Physical data independence is used to separate conceptual levels from the internal levels.

o Physical data independence occurs at the logical interface level.

Three Parts that make up the Database System are:

o Storage Manager

o Disk Storage

The explanations for these are provided below:

1. Query Processor

The query processing is handled by the query processor, as the name implies. It executes the user's
query, to put it simply. The query processor's primary duty is to successfully execute the query. The
Query Processor transforms (or interprets) the user's application program-provided requests into
instructions that a computer can understand.

Components of the Query Processor

o DDL Interpreter:

Data Definition Language is what DDL stands for. As implied by the name, the DDL Interpreter interprets
DDL statements like those used in schema definitions (such as create, remove, etc.). This interpretation
yields a set of tables that include the meta-data (data of data) that is kept in the data dictionary.
Metadata may be stored in a data dictionary.

o DML Compiler:

DML Data Manipulation Language is what DML stands for , the DML Compiler converts DML statements
like select, update, and delete into low-level instructions or simply machine-readable object code, to
enable execution.

The optimization of queries is another function of the DML compiler. Since a single question can typically
be translated into a number of evaluation plans. As a result, some optimization is needed to select the
evaluation plan with the lowest cost out of all the options. This process, known as query optimization.

o Embedded DML Pre-compiler:

Before the query evaluation, the embedded DML commands in the application program (such as SELECT,
FROM, etc., in SQL) must be pre-compiled into standard procedural calls (program instructions that the
host language can understand). Therefore, the DML statements which are embedded in an application
program must be converted into routine calls by the Embedded DML Pre-compiler.

o Query Optimizer:

It starts by taking the evaluation plan for the question, runs it, and then returns the result. Simply said,
the query evaluation engine evaluates the SQL commands used to access the database's contents before
returning the result of the query. In a nutshell, it is in charge of analyzing the queries and running the
object code that the DML Compiler produces. Apache Drill, Presto, and other Query Evaluation Engines
are a few examples.

2. Storage Manager:

An application called Storage Manager acts as a conduit between the queries made and the data kept in
the database. Another name for it is Database Control System. By applying the restrictions and running
the DCL instructions, it keeps the database's consistency and integrity. It is in charge of retrieving,
storing, updating, and removing data from the database.

Components of Storage Manager

Following are the components of Storage Manager:

o Integrity Manager:

Whenever there is any change in the database, the Integrity manager will manage the integrity
constraints.

o Authorization Manager:

Authorization manager verifies the user that he is valid and authenticated for the specific query or
request.

o File Manager:

All the files and data structure of the database are managed by this component.

o Transaction Manager:

It is responsible for making the database consistent before and after the transactions. Concurrent
processes are generally controlled by this component.

o Buffer Manager:

The transfer of data between primary and main memory and managing the cache memory is done by
the buffer manager.

3. Disk Storage

A DBMS can use various kinds of Data Structures as a part of physical system implementation in the
form of disk storage.

Components of Disk Storage

Following are the components of Disk Manager:

o Data Dictionary:

It contains the metadata (data of data), which means each object of the database has some information
about its structure. So, it creates a repository which contains the details about the structure of the
database object.

o Data Files:

This component stores the data in the files.

o Indices:

These indices are used to access and retrieve the data in a very fast and efficient way.