Characteristics of the Database Approach

A number of characteristics distinguish the database approach from the much older approach of writing customized programs to access data stored in files. In traditional file processing, each user defines and implements the files needed for a specific software application as part of programming the application. For example, one user, the grade reporting office, may keep files on students and their grades. Programs to print a student’s transcript and to enter new grades are implemented as part of the application. A second user, the accounting office, may keep track of students’ fees and their payments. Although both users are interested in data about students, each user maintains separate files—and programs to manipulate these files—because each requires some data not available from the other user’s files. This redundancy in defining and storing data results in wasted storage space and in redundant efforts to maintain common up-to-date data.

In the database approach, a single repository maintains data that is defined once and then accessed by various users repeatedly through queries, transactions, and application programs. The main characteristics of the database approach versus the file-processing approach are the following:

  • Self-describing nature of a database system
  • Insulation between programs and data, and data abstraction
  • Support of multiple views of the data
  • Sharing of data and multiuser transaction processing

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