Lesson 02

History of Databases
2.1 Aim
To understand the beginning of the concept of ‘Database’

2.2 Objectives
Having studied this lesson you will be able to understand;

 Basic characteristics & limitations of File systems

 How the Databases avoid limitations of the File Systems

2.3 The Historical Roots of the Database: File and File Systems
Historically, the first computer applications accessed the data stored in computer files. The
requests for information and report generation were done by transforming stored data into
information that are useful for the management. Here, we will examine how computer file
systems developed in response to the search for more detailed and appropriate information.

Although file systems are now largely obsolete, there are several good reasons for studying
them in detail.

 File systems provide a useful historical perspective on the way we handle data.
 Some of the problems in file systems might be duplicated in database software.
 An understanding of the relatively simple characteristics of file systems makes the
complexity of database design easier to understand.
 If you intend to convert an obsolete file system to a database system, knowledge of
the file system’s basic limitations will be useful.

In the recent past, a manager of almost any small organization was able to keep track of
necessary data by using a manual file system. Such a file system was traditionally composed
of a collection of file folders; each properly tagged and kept in a filing cabinet. (Think about
large file cabinets in most of the government offices’ in Sri Lanka)

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Organization of the data within the file folders was determined by the data’s expected use.
Ideally, the contents of each file folder were logically related. For example, a file folder in a
doctor’s office might contain patient data, one file for each patient. All the data in that file
described only that particular patient’s medical history.

Similarly, a personnel manager might organize personnel data by category of employment

(clerical, technical, sales, administrative, etc.). Therefore, a file folder labelled “Technical”
could contain data related to only those people whose duties were properly classified as
technical.
As long as the data collection is relatively small and the organization’s managers has few
requirements (report generation etc.), the manual system serves its role well as a good data
store. However, as organizations grew and as report generation requirements become more
complex, keeping track of data in a manual file system became difficult. In fact, finding and
using data in growing collections of file folders became a time consuming and cumbersome
task.

Unfortunately, report generation from a manual file system can be slow and burdensome. In
fact, it would take weeks of intensive effort to generate reports even with a well-designed
manual system. Therefore, the need of building a design for a computer based system that
would track data and generate necessary reports was came on to the stage.

The conversion from a manual file system to a matching computer file system is technically
complex. Thus, a new kind of professional, known as a data processing (DP) specialist was
born. The DP specialist would create the necessary computer file structures, write the
software that manage the data within those structures and design the application programs
that produce reports based on the file data. Initially, the computer files within the files system
were similar to the manual files. A simple example of a customer data file for a small
insurance company is shown in Figure 2.1.

C_NAME C_PHONE C_ADDRESS A_NAME A_PHONE TP AMT REN

AjithPerera 615-844-2573 Hanwella MallikaPerera 615-882-1244 T1 10000.00 3/12/99

MenakaLiyanage 713-894-1238 Meegoda Palith de Silva 713-228-1249 T1 25000.00 5/23/99

GayanMendis 615-894-2285 Battaramulla MallikaPerera 615-882-2144 S2 15000.00 1/5/98

Geethani de Silva 615-894-2180 Malabe MallikaPerera 615-882-1244 S1 30000.00 9/20/99

MallikaJayasinghe 615-222-1672 Nugegoda Palith de Silva 713-228-1249 T1 10000.00 12/4/99

WasanthaZoysa 713-442-3381 Battaramulla RanjanZoysa 615-123-5589 T2 85000.00 8/29/99

Mahinda Costa 615-297-1228 Nawala MallikaPerera 615-882-1244 S1 12000.00 3/1/99

SarathPerera 615-290-2556 Piliyandala RanjanZoysa 615-123-5589 S1 25000.00 6/23/99

AthulaLiyanage 713-382-7185 Ratmalana Palith de Silva 713-228-1249 T2 10000.00 11/9/99

RanjithPerera 615-297-3809 Maharagama RanjanZoysa 615-123-5589 S2 50000.00 2/18/99

Figure 2.1: Contents of the CUSTOMER File

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C_NAME = Customer name A_NAME = Agent name
C_PHONE = Customer phone A_PHONE = Agent Phone
C_ADDRESS = Customer address TP = Insurance type
AMT = Insurance policy amount in Rupees REN = Insurance renewal date

The description of computer files requires a specialized vocabulary. Every discipline

develops its own jargon to enable its experts to communicate very precisely. The basic file
vocabulary summary is shown in Table 2.1 will help you understand subsequent discussions
more easily.

Table 2.1: Basic File Terminologies

“Raw” facts that have little meaning unless they have been organized in
Data some logical manner. The smallest piece of data that can be “recognized”
by the computer is a single character, such as the letter ‘A’, the number ‘5’,
or some symbol such as ‘/’. A single character requires one byte of
computer storage.
A character or group of characters (alphabetic or numeric) that has a
Field specific meaning. A field might define a telephone number, a birth date,
a customer name, a year-to-date (YTD) sales value, and so on.
A logically connected set of one or more fields that describes a person,
Record place or thing. For example, the fields that constitute a record for a
customer named Krishantha de Mel might consist of Krishantha de Mels’s
name, address, and phone number, date of birth, credit limit and unpaid
balance.
A collection of related records. For example, a file might contain data
File about vendors of ABC Company; or a file might contain the records for the
students currently enrolled at The Open University of Sri Lanka.

Using the proper file terminology shown in Table 2.1, we can identify the file components
shown in Figure 2.1. Note that, the CUSTOMER file shown in Figure 2.1 contains ten
records. Each record is composed of eight fields: C_NAME, C_PHONE, C_ADDRESS,
A_NAME, A_PHONE, TP, AMT and REN. The ten records are stored in a named file.
Because the file in Figure 2.1 contains customer data, its file name is CUSTOMER.

Using the CUSTOMER file contents, the DP specialist of the company can write programs
that produce very useful reports for the sales department:
 Monthly summaries that show the types and amount of insurance sold by each agent.
Such reports might be used to analyse each agent’s productivity.
 Monthly checks to determine which customers must be contacted for renewal.
 Reports that analyse the ratios of insurance types sold by each agent.
 Periodic customer contact letters designed to summarize coverage and to provide
various customer relations bonuses.
As time goes on, additional programs can be written to produce new reports. Although it
takes some time to specify the report contents and to write the programs that produce the
reports, the sales department manager will not miss the old manual system. The use of the
computer saves much time and effort. The reports will be impressive and the ability to
perform complex data searches will yield the information needed to make sound decisions.
Then, the sales department creates a file named SALES, which helps to track daily sales
efforts. Additional files will be created as needed to produce even more useful reports.

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Consequently, the DP specialist will be asked to create the AGENT file shown in Figure 2.2.
The data in the AGENT file are used to write cheques, keep tract of taxes paid, and
summarize insurance coverage and so on.

YTD_FI
A_NAME A_PHONE A_ADDRESS HIRED YTD_PAY YTD_SLS DEP
T
Palitha de Silva 713-228-1249 Kadawata 11/1/93 20560.24 4332.22 1735.00 3
MallikaPerera 615-882-1244 Rajagiriya 5/23/84 25213.76 5934.75 4967.00 0
RanjanZoysa 615-123-5589 EtulKotte 6/15/89 23198.29 4332.24 3093.00 2

Figure 2.2: Contents of the AGENT File

A_NAME = Agent name YTD_PAY = Year-To-Date pay

A_PHONE = Agent phone YTD_FIT = Year-To-Date Income tax paid
A_ADRESS = Agent address YTD_SLS = Year-To-Date sales in Rupees
HIRED = Agent date of hire DEP = Number of dependents

As the number of files increase, a small file system, like the one shown in Figure 2.3,
evolved. Each of the files in the system uses its own application programs to store, retrieve
and modify data. Each file is owned by the individual or the department that required its
creation.

Sales Personnel
Department Department

File File report File File report

management programs management programs
programs programs

CUSTOMER file AGENT file

File File report

management programs
programs

SALES file

Figure 2.3: A Simple File System

As the file system grows, the demand for the DP (Data Processing) analyst’s programming
skills also grow even faster. Therefore, the DP specialist will have to hire additional
programmers. The size of the file system also requires a large, more complex computer. The
new computer and the additional programming staff cause the DP specialist to spend less
time programming and more time managing technical and human resources. Therefore, the
DP specialist’s job evolves into that of a data processing manager who supervises a DP
department. In spite of these organizational changes, however, the DP department’s primary
activity remains programming and the DP manager inevitably spends much time as a
supervising senior programmer and program trouble shooter.

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File System Data Management

Here we will discuss some of the features in the file system environment which led it to lose
its popularity. These features lose file systems favour on its users and made them to think
over new approaches of data management.

File System Security

To protect files we can use passwords, methods to lock parts of files etc. But implementing
them on file systems was very difficult and hence they were omitted. Since the security is
less, pooling or arranging data together became difficult. Therefore Data ownership has
occurred and hence same data in different locations were found. Then it was very hard to
update same data in different locations. Because of that the Islands of Information problem
was occurred. Those Islands had different variations of same data.

The conclusions we can made here is that it is very easy to initiate a File system. But when it
grows or matures it is very difficult to control and maintain". Therefore for the modern
requirements, file systems definitely is not a good solution.

Structural and Data Dependence

Now we are going to see what will happen to the application programs if we do a
modification (add or delete a field) to the structure of the file system. If you change the file
structure, application programs should definitely change accordingly. The conclusion is file
systems have structural dependence (Access to file depends on its structure).

Even if we change data in a file (Change file data type Integer to Decimal) we have to change
all the data access programs. That is file systems have Data dependence too.

Data Redundancy in File Systems

These file systems suffer from Data redundancy. That is possibility of duplicate data. This
uncontrolled data redundancy causes the following issues.
Data Inconsistency: This can cause Data anomalies.

Incorrect data may have to be changed, which could involve many records having to be
changed, leading to the possibility of some changes being made incorrectly. This is an update
anomaly.

A deletion anomaly is the unintended loss of data due to deletion of other data.
An insertion anomaly is the inability to add data to the database due to absence of other data.

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Summary
This lesson discussed the history of databases and the reasons for studying file systems. In
addition, the lesson explained the naming conventions used in the process file systems and
the job opportunities that occurred as a reason of the birth of computer file systems. Finally
we discussed the data management procedures in these file systems.

Self-Assessment Questions

(01) Compare and contrast Database Systems and File Systems.

(02) What is data independence and why is it important? It is said that file systems lack
data independence. Discuss.

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