Week 2

Teaching and Learning Methods to be Employed

1. Illustrated lecture on DBMS architecture with layered diagrams

2. Lab session: Navigating MySQL Workbench schemas, tables, users

3. Demonstration: Data independence in practice

By the end of this week, students should be able to:

1. Identify and describe the components of a database system.

2. Explain the functions of a DBMS.

3. Describe the three-schema (ANSI/SPARC) architecture.

4. Distinguish between physical and logical data independence.

5. Explain the roles of DBA, database designer, and end-users.

Data independence is the ability to change the schema at one level without affecting the schema at the next higher level. There are two types:

Type	Definition and Example
Physical Data Independence	The ability to change the physical (internal) schema without affecting the conceptual schema. Example: Moving the bank's database from HDD to SSD storage, or changing the indexing strategy, without any change to the table structures or applications.
Logical Data Independence	The ability to change the conceptual (logical) schema without affecting the external schema or applications. Example: Adding a new column to a Customer table without breaking existing applications that do not use that column.