专业英语李白萍版(wust期末考)第11章要点.ppt

　　The term data independence is often quoted as being one of the main attributes of a database. It implies that the data and the application programs which use them are independent so that either may be changed without changing the other. When a single set of data items serves a variety of applications, different application programs perceive different relationships between the data items. To a large extent, database organization is concerned with the representation of relationship between data items and records as well as how and where the data are stored. A database used for many applications can have multiple interconnections between the data item about which we store information referred to as entities. An entity may be a tangible object or non-tangible. It has various properties which we may wish to record. It can describes the real world. The data item represents an attribute, and the attribute must be associated with the relevant entity. We design values to the attributes, one attribute has a special significance in that it identifies the entity. 　　An attribute or set of attributes which the computer uses to identify a record or tuple is referred to as a key. The primary key is defined as that key used to uniquely identify one record or tuple. The entity identifier consisting of one or more attributes. The primary key is of great importance because it is used by the computer in locating the record or tuple by means of an index or addressing algorithm. 　　If the function of a database were merely to store data, its organization would be simple. Most of the complexities arise from the fact that is must also show the relationships between the various items of data that are stored. It is different to describe the data in logical or physical. 　　The logical database description is referred to as a schema. 　　A schema is a chart of the types of data that one used. It gives the names of the entities and attributes, and specifics the relations between them. It is framw