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DATA MODELS
•A collection of conceptual tools for
describing data, data relationships, data
semantics, and consistency constraints.
•Provide a way to describe the design of a
database at the logical level.
•Three data models that are used for database
management are:
1. The Relational Data Model
2. The Hierarchical Data Model
3. The Network Data Model
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The Relational Data Model

•In this model,the data is organized into
tables (ie., rows and columns). These tables
are called relations.
•A row in a table represents a relationship
among a set of values.
Consider a sample database with three tables
(relations):Suppliers, Items, Quantities:
Suppliers (sup-no#,sup-name,status, city)
Items ( item-no#, item-name, price)
Quantities (sup-no#, item-no#, Qty)
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Sup-no# Sup-Name Status City

S1 Britannia 10 Delhi
S2 New 30 Mumbai
S3 Cockg 10 Delhi

Items
Item-no# Item-name Price
I1 Milk 15.00
I2 Cake 5.00
I3 Bread 9.00
I4 Biscuit 14.00
I5 Ice cream 6.00
I6 Jam 10.00

Quantities
Sup-no# Item-no# Qty
S1 I2 10
S1 I3 20
S1 I6 20
S2 I4 20
S2 I5 10
S3 I1 10
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•Rows of relations are generally referred to
as tuples and the columns are usually
referred to as attributes.

•No two tuples are identical and their

ordering is not important.

•A relationship is represented by combining

the primary key of the relations.
•
•various operations can be performed on
relations such as insert new tuples, delete
tuples and modify tuples.
•
•There are several languages for expressing
these operations. One such language is
relational query language.
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The Network Data Model
•In this model, data is represented by
collections of records and relationships
among data are represented by links. Ie.,
the collection of records which are
connected to one another by means of links.
•A record is a collection of fields
(attributes), each of which contains only
one data value.
•A link is an association between precisely
two records.
•The structure of the database is shown as
an arbitrary graph in which the records
form the nodes and links form the edges.
•There is no concept of a root node.
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Consider the structure of the above sample

database of suppliers, items and quantities.

S1 Britannia 10 Delhi S2 New 30 Mumbai S3 Cockg 10 Delhi

10 20 20 20 10 10

I1 milk 15 I2 cake 5 I3 bread 9 I4 biscuit 14 I5 icecream 6 I6 jam 10

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•The operations on a network database are

performed through a data manipulation
language for network model.

•The operations that can be performed on a

network database include find, insert,
delete, modify etc.

•The inserting or removing records include

connect, disconnect and reconnect
operations.
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The Hierarchical Data Model

•Same as network model. The only difference
is that in the hierarchical model, records
are organized as trees rather than arbitrary
graphs.
•The record type at the top of the tree is
usually known as root.
•In general, the root may have any number of
dependents and each of these dependents may
have any number of low level dependents and
so on.
Consider the hierarchical view of the above
sample database of suppliers, items and
quantities.
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S1 Britannia 10 Delhi

I2 Cake 5
I3 Bread 9
10
I6 Jam 10
20
20

S2 New 30 Mumbai

I4 Biscuit 14
I5 Icecream 6
20
10

S3 Cockg 10 Delhi

I1 Milk 15

10
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In this tree structure supplier record type

is the root node.
•Here the relationship is expressed in the
form of a tree with all the edges pointing
to the leaf.
•The operations on a hierarchical database
are performed through a data manipulation
language for hierarchical data model.
•The various operations include retrieval,
insertions , deletions and modifications of
records.