Student POST:
Database processing models showcase the logical structure of a database. The most commonly used model is the Relational database model that sorts the data in a table that consist of rows and columns. The column holds the attributes of the entity and rows hold the data of a particular instance of the entities. The major advantage of the Relational model is that it is in the table form and hence easier for users to understand, manage and work with the data. And, with the primary key and foreign key concepts, the data can be uniquely identified, stored in different entities and retrieved effectively with the relationships. The other advantage is that with the relational model, SQL language can be used to work with the data which is simple to understand and most widely used. The disadvantage of relational model could be the financial cost that is higher in comparison as the specific software needs to be in place and the regular maintenance needs to be performed that requires highly skilled manpower. And, the complexity of the database can be further increased when the volume of the data keep in increasing. Also, there is the limitation in the length of fields stored as different data types in relational model (Joseph & Paul, 2009).
The other processing model is the Object-oriented model that depicts database as the collection of objects. The advantage of this model is that it is compatible to work with complex data sets with the use of Object IDs and object-oriented programming. It’s disadvantage is that object databases are not commonly used and the complexity can hamper the performance of database. The other type of database model is the Entity-Relationship model which is mostly used for the conceptual design of database. It pictures the entities, several attributes that falls within the domain of that entity and the cardinality of relationship between them. It’s advantage is that the E-R diagram is easily understandable by the users at the first glance and thus can effectively work with the data in no time and can point out the discrepancies in the data. The other advantage is that it can be easily converted to other models if required by the business. The disadvantage of Entity-Relationship is that the industry standard notations for the diagram is not defined and thus can create confusion to the users. This model is only suitable for high-level database design (S.J.D.,2020).
2Nd Student POST :
Database models or commonly referred to as schemas help represent the structure of a database and its format which is run by a DBMS. Database model uses vary depending on user specifications.
Types of database models
1. Network model
This network model uses a structure similar to that of a hierarchical model. The model permits multiple parents, which is a tree-like structure model. This model emphasizes two basic concepts; records and sets. Records hold file hierarchy and sets define the many-to-many relationship in records. Sets use circular linked lists acting as data structures in which a record, which is a parent for that matter appears once in a circle and a child of that specific parent might appear more than once in each circle (Gupta, 2021). Records in the network model connect, maintaining a hierarchy in records. Access to data is either sequential form or circular linked list pattern. Multiple paths exist in accessing specific records.
A major advantage of this model is that it allows a relationship of a many-to-many relationship, thus, there are multiple parents. The model can handle several types of relationships and does allows data independence. The network model contains redundancy in the records leading to duplication of records in the database model making it disadvantageous.
2. Entity-relationship model
The Entity-Relationship Model represents the database as a diagram called the Entity-Relationship Diagram (ERD). This diagram is a blueprint that has two main components, a relationship set, and an entity set. The entity-relationship diagram represents relationships existing in the entity set. In database management systems entity is taken for table and attributes columns in a table, thus, an entity-relationship diagram depicts the relationship among tables in a database. Entities are considered as real-world things stored in a database physically. Entity sets are assumed to be a group of the same types of entities (Gyorödi et.al, 2015).
The advantages of using this model are; entities have attributes that help to uniquely identify an entity. The model’s conceptual framework is easy to understand, which has a better representation of visuals. The model is also highly integrated into the relational model. The model has several disadvantages; it’s only common with high-level database designs. This model has limited constraints and specifications. It has limited relationship representation when compared to other models
3. Hierarchical model
The hierarchical model stores data in a tree-like structure, a root node does exist and data begins to be stored in it. Maintenance of order is done while still storing is done by a sort used for a sibling record. This model maintains a one-to-many relation among data, a sequential technic in accessing data by using pointers (Abiteboul & Hull, 1986)
The hierarchical model is useful in maintaining an information management system. It is an easy database model to design which supports data independence. The model has its shortcomings too. The hierarchical model does not have the capabilities of handling all database operations. To retrieve data in the model takes more time compared to other database models and records lack connection in the model.
3 Student Post:
Database models have often been recognizing as data structures, and that they’re then used to describe the database structure and content that the database management system operates. The database model describes the application’s appearance and functionality. Network structure, entity-relationship model, hierarchical model, object-oriented model, and application framework are some of the different types of database models. These various database structures have distinct appearances and procedures. The data can be stored in a tree-like framework throughout the hierarchical model, with the tree’s root in the data has been processed. The category field is often used for sibling histories to keep things function quicker while storing the hierarchical system data (Abed, 2020).
Whenever a data management system is required, the hierarchical network model has typically implemented. The hierarchical network concept is generally applied if an information management system has been considering. In comparison to just the hierarchical model, the overall network database schema does have a similar format. The tree-like theoretical framework model supports many partnerships. It implies that several sources are possible—collections and documents used in the network structure. The documents include files that can organize hierarchically and collections that describe the document’s several connections. The system architecture for the group is a circular relational database. One copy, which would be a parent, can appear just once in each circle, and the child of such a group of specialists can make appearance multiple times from each process. They have created the relational database model to eliminate database management dependencies. The relational database framework is being developed primarily for microprocessor structures. Domains, attributes, and connections are the three keys used during database engine structures. A table with rows and columns has used to describe the relationship (Radoev, 2017).
4th Student Post:
Traditional database models
A database is a gathering of data that are assembled in such a way that can be managed, accessed and updated easily. Data models define the logical structure of a modelled database. There are various types of data models such as document model, relational model, object-oriented database model, entity-relationship model, hierarchical database model, network model, entity-attribute-value model, star schema. These databases mostly help the developers creating a successful database system that would serve their purpose (Al-Fedaghi & Makdessi, 2020). Traditional databases were developed to handle transactions and keep relational records. The three traditional models that help in modelling databases are the relational model, the hierarchical model and the network model. Therefore, they are discussed as follows:-
The Relational Model
The relational model is a type of database that includes the collection of relations in the form of databases. A relation can be defined as a table of values. A collection of related data values is represented by every row in a table. In order to become a better developer, one should understand the use of relational models. It helps in enhancing skills instead of being just an application code developer. When one knows how to use the relational model effectively, it helps the application to run more smoothly (Jansen, 2020). Simple model than any other model:- It is the most simple model, as it does not require any special querying or structuring processes. Accuracy In data:- In relational database systems with the use of foreign and primary key concepts there can be various tables that are related to one another. Thus there is no chance of duplicate data. The operation of a relational database system is machine performance. If the number of tables in which the relationship is being established is high, the performance in responding to the SQL queries may be affected. The extraction of data from a relational database model is slower as compared to the others.
The Hierarchical Database Model
It is a database model having a tree-like organized model. Those data are stored and recorded that are connected to each other through relations. It helps the developers in creating an interlinked structure in defining many links in the table of contents, real-world, nested and sorted information. Helps in advancements:- It is helpful for the people who want advancement in their career paths. Though it is not easy, it provides a clear path to improve the concerning performance. It helps in dividing the areas of concern into different departmental structures. The database needs more time to match its steps with the pace of the changes going on around. Thus the dynamic industries generally do not prefer this database model. Communication barrier the database model involves making specialized departments, thus blocking the communication between other departments as it allows only the members of the same level to communicate (Sarker et al., 2020). A network model is a flexible approach designed to denote objects and their existence. It has several features such as its schema can be reviewed as a graph where types of objects are nodes and types of relationships are arcs. It helps the developers to more basic connections with the types of relationship which is not possible in the other database models. In comparison to other database models the network model has easier methods of accessing data. It has a connection between the parent and child segments as it is dependent on the parent-child relationship. Functional defects:- The introduction, updates and removal of the data becomes more difficult because of the large number of pointers. Incomplete flexibility the network cannot fulfil each and every relation by assigning holder, although it is more flexible than the other database model. Therefore, these traditional data models have helped the developers create database models. Although they have advantages and disadvantages of their own, they have helped in the overall development and advancement of the technological area.