Week 5 - Relational Database Theory

            The word database has become synonymous with the advent of computers.  Databases are used all over the world and are used by both companies and individuals alike.  Not only that, databases can be comprised of many different things; for example, Drexel has databases that keep account of student finances, student enrollment, and even has subscriptions for databases in the library that allow students to search numerous sources to gather information for projects.  One well known type of database is the relational database.

            A relational database is a database that organizes all of its information into separate columns.  These columns could have several different categories of information in each one that would relate to a particular topic [3].  One example is a payroll database that has rows of employee names with their respective salaries, tenure, and position in different columns. 

Despite the having “relational” in its name, this database does not use that word in a context one would think.  One would assume that the “relational” part of this database comes from relating data to data, but it really comes from mathematics [3].  This goes back to math because of the thousands of possible tables that have data that each table can target onto when retrieving the information.  This mathematical property would allow the user to access the data without having to fully understand the physical design of the database [2].  

This whole concept came from the engineers and researchers at IBM in the 1970s.  Dr. Codd from IBM designed the idea that data could be gathered from all over the database without the database knowing exactly where it is when searching for it.  This was accomplished by using a value that was assigned to the data instead of using the data itself when searching for it amongst the thousands of data entries that were scattered in the database [2].  This was revolutionary idea due to the major leaps in efficiency that it brought to the data world. 

Some turbulence was brought into the “relational database world” when sites that require “Big Data” started to emerge.  At first, the sites claimed that relational databases built from SQL were not appropriate for their sites.  However, as time went on, some problems began to emerge [1].  Although not using SQL relational database was quick to form and manage at the start, as more and more information was included, many different issues arose which made it more complicated to control all of the data.

In summary, relational databases are a great tool to use when controlling large amounts of information in databases.  It allows the user to find the relevant data more quickly due to the relations between tables and columns throughout the databases.

             

 Comments:

-Steve: I like how you touched upon the use of databases in Intelligent Buildings.  I'm surprised that I looked over that completely despite that being the overall course topic.  Intelligent Buildings and databases will go hand in hand due to the amount of information that sensors and other pieces of technology will provide the structure.

-Audrey: It was interesting to read about SQL from what you posted since my topic kept referring back to SQL numerous times.  I did read something about NoSQL databases like you touched upon.  From the source I read, the expert being interviewed said that issues like bogging-down the system are a very prevalent issue, and it is making some companies rethink the way they hold information and data.

Sources:

[1] "Don't Write Off Relational Databases For Big Data Just Yet." ReadWrite. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. <http://readwrite.com/2013/01/21/dont-write-off-relational-databases-for-big-data-just-yet?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+readwriteweb+(ReadWriteWeb)#awesm=~ovpPXysQhbhQKU>.

[2] "Relational Database." IBM100 -. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. <http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ibm100/us/en/icons/reldb/>.

[3] "What Are Relational Databases?" HowStuffWorks. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. <http://computer.howstuffworks.com/question599.htm>.