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外文资料DatabaseManagementSystemsAdatabase(sometimesspelleddatabase)isalsocalledanelectronicdatabase,referringtoanycollectionofdata,orinformation,thatisspeciallyorganizedforrapidsearchandretrievalbyacomputer.Databasesarestructuredtofacilitatethestorage,retrieval,modification,anddeletionofdatainconjunctionwithvariousdata-processingoperations.Databasescanbestoredonmagneticdiskortape,opticaldisk,orsomeothersecondarystoragedevice.Adatabaseconsistsofafileorasetoffiles.Theinformationinthesefilesmaybebrokendownintorecords,eachofwhichconsistsofoneormorefields.Fieldsarethebasicunitsofdatastorage,andeachfieldtypicallycontainsinformationpertainingtooneaspectorattributeoftheentitydescribedbythedatabase.Usingkeywordsandvarioussortingcommands,userscanrapidlysearch,rearrange,group,andselectthefieldsinmanyrecordstoretrieveorcreatereportsonparticularaggregateofdata.Complexdatarelationshipsandlinkagesmaybefoundinallbutthesimplestdatabases.Thesystemsoftwarepackagethathandlesthedifficulttasksassociatedwithcreating,accessing,andmaintainingdatabaserecordsiscalledadatabasemanagementsystem(DBMS).TheprogramsinaDBMSpackageestablishaninterfacebetweenthedatabaseitselfandtheusersofthedatabase..(Theseusersmaybeapplicationsprogrammers,managersandotherswithinformationneeds,andvariousOSprograms.)ADBMScanorganize,process,andpresentselecteddataelementsformthedatabase.Thiscapabilityenablesdecisionmakerstosearch,probe,andquerydatabasecontentsinordertoextractanswerstononrecurringandunplannedquestionsthataren’tavailableinregularreports.Thesequestionsmightinitiallybevagueand/orpoorlydefined,butpeoplecan“browse”throughthedatabaseuntiltheyhavetheneededinformation.Inshort,theDBMSwill“manage”thestoreddataitemsandassembletheneededitemsfromthecommondatabaseinresponsetothequeriesofthosewhoaren’tprogrammers.Adatabasemanagementsystem(DBMS)iscomposedofthreemajorparts:(1)astoragesubsystemthatstoresandretrievesdatainfiles;(2)amodelingandmanipulationsubsystemthatprovidesthemeanswithwhichtoorganizethedataandtoadd,delete,maintain,andupdatethedata;(3)andaninterfacebetweentheDBMSanditsusers.Severalmajortrendsareemergingthatenhancethevalueandusefulnessofdatabasemanagementsystems;Managers:whorequiremoreup-to-datainformationtomakeeffectivedecisionCustomers:whodemandincreasinglysophisticatedinformationservicesandmorecurrentinformationaboutthestatusoftheirorders,invoices,andaccounts.Users:whofindthattheycandevelopcustomapplicationswithdatabasesystemsinafractionofthetimeittakestousetraditionalprogramminglanguages.Organizations:thatdiscoverinformationhasastrategicvalue;theyutilizetheirdatabasesystemstogainanedgeovertheircompetitors.TheDatabaseModelAdatamodeldescribesawaytostructureandmanipulatethedatainadatabase.Thestructuralpartofthemodelspecifieshowdatashouldberepresented(suchastree,tables,andsoon).Themanipulativepartofthemodelspecifiestheoperationwithwhichtoadd,delete,display,maintain,print,search,select,sortandupdatethedata.HierarchicalModelThefirstdatabasemanagementsystemsusedahierarchicalmodel-thatis-theyarrangedrecordsintoatreestructure.Somerecordsarerootrecordsandallothershaveuniqueparentrecords.Thestructureofthetreeisdesignedtoreflecttheorderinwhichthedatawillbeusedthatis,therecordattherootofatreewillbeaccessedfirst,thenrecordsonelevelbelowtheroot,andsoon.Thehierarchicalmodelwasdevelopedbecausehierarchicalrelationshipsarecommonlyfoundinbusinessapplications.Asyouhaveknown,anorganizationcharoftendescribesahierarchicalrelationship:topmanagementisatthehighestlevel,middlemanagementatlowerlevels,andoperationalemployeesatthelowestlevels.Notethatwithinastricthierarchy,eachlevelofmanagementmayhavemanyemployeesorlevelsofemployeesbeneathit,buteachemployeehasonlyonemanager.Hierarchicaldataarecharacterizedbythisone-to-manyrelationshipamongdata.Inthehierarchicalapproach,eachrelationshipmustbeexplicitlydefinedwhenthedatabaseiscreated.Eachrecordinahierarchicaldatabasecancontainonlyonekeyfieldandonlyonerelationshipisallowedbetweenanytwofields.Thiscancreateaproblembecausedatadonotalwaysconformtosuchastricthierarchy.RelationalModelAmajorbreakthroughindatabaseresearchoccurredin1970whenE.F.Coddproposedafundamentallydifferentapproachtodatabasemanagementcalledrelationalmodel,whichusesatableasitsdatastructure.Therelationaldatabaseisthemostwidelyuseddatabasestructure.Dataisorganizedintorelatedtables.Eachtableismadeupofrowscalledandcolumnscalledfields.Eachrecordcontainsfieldsofdataaboutsomespecificitem.Forexample,inatablecontaininginformationonemployees,arecordwouldcontainfieldsofdatasuchasaperson’slastname,firstname,andstreetaddress.Structuredquerylanguage(SQL)isaquerylanguageformanipulatingdatainarelationaldatabase.Itisnonproceduralordeclarative,inwhichtheuserneedonlyspecifyanEnglish-likedescriptionthatspecifiestheoperationandthedescribedrecordorcombinationofrecords.Aqueryoptimizertranslatesthedescriptionintoaproceduretoperformthedatabasemanipulation.NetworkModelThenetworkmodelcreatesrelationshipsamongdatathroughalinked-liststructureinwhichsubordinaterecordscanbelinkedtomorethanoneparentr