Course Outline
1. Data Abstraction
2.
3.
Levels of Data Abstract ion
Data Independ ence
0 I
---
I
~
o ~ BMS 1-1:i~
[Link]
leSystem Internal
l
Schorn;,
4. Level 1: Physical Level or Internal Schema
5. Level 2: Conceptu al Level or Logical Level
Physical l..ovol
6. Level 3: View Level or External Schen1a
7. Example s of Data Abstract ion in DBMS
Data Abstraction
► Definition:
Data Abstraction refers to the process of hiding irrelevant details from the user.
0
► Example:
• If we want to access any mail fr01n our Gtnail then we don't know where that data is
physically stored i.e is the data present in India or USA or what data model has been used to
store that data? We are not concen1ed about these things.
• We are only concerned with our email.
• So, information like these i.e. location of data and data models are irrelevant to us and we just
used front end syste1n.
Levels of Data Abstraction & Data Independence
• Data Independence means users and data should not directly interact with each other.
• The user should be at a different level and the data should be present at son1e other level.
• Data independence refers characteristic of being able to modify the schema at one level of
the database system without altering the schen1a at the next higher level.
• There are 1nainly three levels of data abstraction and we divide it into three levels in order to
achieve Data Independence. ~~~~
(logie:OI~) Conceptual Level
1. View Level
([Link] Schomo) Physical Level
2. Conceptual Leve0l
3. Physical Level [Link]
~
or Dlll Abt:tnet1on
Level 1: Physical Level or Internal Schema
• Lowest level of Data Abstraction.
• It defines how data are stored.
Physcaluval
• It tells the actual location of the data that is being stored by the user.
0
• The Database Administrators(DBA) decide that which data should be kept at which particular
disk drive, how the data has to be arranged, where it has to be stored etc.
• They decide if the data has to be centralized or distributed.
• It totally depends on the DBA, how he/she manages the database at the physical level.
Level 2: Conceptual Level or Logical Level
• This level defines avhat data are stored in database &
What relationship exists among these data.
• Logical levels decide structure of entire database.
Log!UI Level
• DBA use the logical level for abstraction purpose.
PhySIQI Lev.I
Example:
• Let us take an example where we use the relational n1odel for storing the data.
• We have to store the data of a student, the colmnns in the student table will be student name,
age, mail id, roll no etc.
• Though the data is stored in the database but the structure of the tables like the student table,
teacher table, books table, etc are defined here in the conceptual level or logical level.
• Also, how the tables are related to each other are defined here.
Level 3: View Level or External Schema
0
• This level tells the application about how the data should be
shown to the user.
• Different views of same database can be created for user to
interact with database for user friendly approach.
Example:
• If we have a login-id and password in a university system, then as a student, we can view our
1narks, attendance, fee structure, etc. But the faculty of the university will have a different
view.
• He will have options like salary, edit marks of a student, enter attendance of the students, etc.
• So, both the student and the faculty have a different view.
• By doing so, the security of the system also increases.
• In this example, the student can't edit his marks but the faculty who is authorized to edit the
marks can edit the student's n1arks.
Examples of Data Abstraction in DBMS
View
"'<"W)..
Level
"''-->Jo
~'--Noone
T~e.
Logical
Level
Physical
Level
External Level/ Conceptual Level/ Internal Level
View Level Logical Level
r:-:-i_ .IB-1~
....
~ II ;;
::...,a
Clltflt Strver [Link]
