This book is concerned with mainframe databases. It examines the various advantages of database computer systems over non-database approaches and considers the necessary requirements for creating and implementing a database, using case studies to highlight the principles and techniques involved. The first part of the book looks at the basic needs for a database system in a medium to large business environment, and introduces an idealistic database architecture emphasizing the desire for logical and physical data independence. Part two considers the task of the database administrator, beginning with the task of data analysis, and examining the day to day running of the database, covering topics such as recovery, tuning and back-up. The final part looks at the various existing database systems, identifying their common elements and describing how each tackles the problems outlined earlier in the book. A long running case study, which deals with the analysis and design of a large database for a bank, is used throughout the book and was chosen specifically to be relevant to students.
This book should be of interest to HND and undergraduate students of computer science; newcomers to computing or databases.