Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

Relational Databases

What is a database?

 A Database is a structured, persistent collection of data

 It allows easy storage, retrieval, and management of

information

 Electronic databases offer a number of key benefits:

o Easier to add, delete, modify and update data

o Data can be backed up and copied easier

o Multiple users, from multiple locations, can access the same

database at the same time

 There are two main types of database

o Flat file

o Relational

Flat file database

 A flat file database is one that stores all data in a single table

 It is simple and easy to understand but causes

data redundancy, inefficient storage and is harder to maintain

 Consider this example flat file table of students

o This table has redundant data - the tutor and form room
information repeats, this is inefficient
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

o If a tutor changed their name we would need to find all

instances of that name and change them all

o Missing any would mean the table had inconsistent data

Relational database

 A relational database is one that organises data into multiple

tables

 It uses keys to connect related data which reduces data

redundancy, makes efficient use of storage and is easier to
maintain

 A relational database solves the issues in a flat file database:

o A new table could be created to store the tutor information

and the tutor information in the student table could be moved
to the new table. Then a foreign key in the
student table (TutorID) could link a student to their tutor
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

o Now the name of each tutor and their form room is stored only
once

o This means if they change only one piece of data, the data is
updated in the entire database and Inconsistency is
avoided

Tables & Records

What is a table?

 A table is a complete set of records about the same subject/topic

in a database

cars

 An example of a database table named cars

What is a record?

 A record is complete set of fields on a single entity in a table

(row)

cars

 An example of a record in the cars table

Fields & Data Types

What is a field?

 A field is a single piece of data in a table (column)

cars
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

 An example of a field in the cars table

What is a data type?

 A data type is the type of data that can be held in a field and is
defined when designing a table

 Examples of common datatypes are:

o Numeric - whole/decimal

o Character/string - text data

o Date/Time

o Boolean - true or false values

 In the car table above, the following datatypes would be used:

o car_id: numeric

o make: string

o model: string

o colour: string

o price: numeric

Primary Keys & Foreign Keys

What is a primary key?

 A primary key is a unique field that can be used to identify a

record in a table

 order_id is the primary key for the orders table

Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

 customer_id is the primary key for the customers table

What is a foreign key?

 A foreign key is a field in a table that refers to the primary key in

another table.

 A foreign key is used to link tables and create relationships

 In the orders table customer_id is a foreign key - it links an order

back to the customer that made the order in the customer table

Key database terminology

Term Definition

Table A collection of records with a similar structure

Record A group of related fields, representing one data entry

Field A single piece of data in a record

Data
Type of data held in a field
type

Primary
A unique identifier for each record in a table. Usually an ID number
key
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

Foreign A field in a table that refers to the primary key in another table. Used to link
key tables and create relationships

Worked Example

A relational database has been developed for a dance club to store

information about their members and the styles of dance they practice.

The database contains two tables: Members and Styles

Figure A shows some data from the tables.

Members

MemberID FirstName LastName DateJoined

1 Zarmeen Hussain 2024-01-19

2 Fyn Ball 2024-02-01

3 George Johnson 2024-02-25

4 Ella Franks 2024-03-04

Styles

StyleID MemberID Style DateStarted

1 1 Hip Hop 2024-01-22

2 1 Ballroom 2024-02-13

3 3 Contemporary 2024-03-01

4 2 Street 2024-03-07

(a) State one benefit of using relational databases [1]

(b) State the name of the field from the Members table that is the most
suitable to use as the primary key [1]

(c) State the name of the field from the Styles table that is a foreign
key [1

Answers

 (a) reduces data redundancy // reduces data inconsistency

 (b) MemberID

 (c) MemberID

Guidance
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

 Ignore case (b, c)

 No mark if inside quotation marks (b, c)

 No mark if obvious space in response (b, c)

What is SQL?

 SQL (Structured Query Language) is a programming language used

to interact with a DBMS.

 The use of SQL allows a user to:

o Select data (flat file)

o Select data (relational)

o Order data

o Insert data

o Update data

o Delete records

Selecting data commands (flat file)

Comman
Description Example
d

SELECT * FROM users;

(retrieves all data from the 'users' table)
Retrieves data from a
SELECT SELECT name, age
database table
FROM users
(retrieves names and ages from the 'users' table)

Specifies the tables to SELECT name, age FROM users;

FROM
retrieve data from (retrieves names and ages from the 'users' table)

SELECT * FROM users

Filters the data based on
WHERE WHERE age > 30;
a specified condition
(Retrieves users older than 30)

Combines multiple SELECT * FROM users

AND conditions in WHERE age > 18 AND city = 'New York';
a WHERE clause (retrieves users older than 18 and from New York)

OR Retrieves data when at SELECT * FROM users

least one of the WHERE age < 18 OR city = 'New York';
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

conditions is true (retrieves users younger than 18 or from New York

'*' and '%' symbols are

used for searching and
matching data SELECT * FROM users;
WILDCAR '*' used to select all (retrieves all columns for the 'users' table)
DS columns in a table SELECT * FROM users WHERE name LIKE 'J%';
'%' used as a wildcard (retrieves users whose names start with 'J')
character in the LIKE
operator

A select within another SELECT * FROM users WHERE age >

Nested select statement (SELECT AVG(age) FROM users);
SELECT (nested). A mini select
within the main one (retrieves users with an age greater than the avera

SELECT Forename, Lastname FROM Students

WHERE StudentID < 10
How data is organised ORDER BY Lastname, Forename ASC
ORDER
(sorted) when it is (retrieves only the forename and lastname of all s
BY
retrieved from the students table who have a studentID of l
10 and displays in ascending order
by lastname and forename)

Examples

 Select all the fields from the Customers table

Command:

Output:

 Select the ID, name & age of customers who are older than 25

Command:
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

Output:

 Select the name and country of customers who are from a country
that begins with 'U'

Command:

Output:

 Select all fields of customers who are from 'London' or 'Paris'

Command:

Output:

Nested select

Table: Employees
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

ID Name Salary Department City

1 Fynn Roberts 45000 HR London

2 Zarmeen Azra 52000 Sales Manchester

3 Ella Stanley 39500 Marketing Birmingham

 Select all fields for employees whose salary is bigger than the
average salary of all employees

Command:

Output:

ID Name Salary Department City

2 Zarmeen Azra 52000 Sales Manchester

Selecting data commands (relational)

Comman
Description Example
d

SELECT users.name,
orders.order_id FROM users
JOIN
Combines data from two or more tables INNER JOIN orders
(INNER
based on a related column ON users.user_id = orders.use
JOIN)
(retrieves user names and the
corresponding order IDs)

Example

Table: Employees

EmployID Name Salary City

1 Fynn Roberts 45000 London

2 Zarmeen Azra 52000 Manchester

3 Ella Stanley 39500 Birmingham

Table: Departments

DepartID EmployID Department Manager Email

1 1 HR Sally Jones hr@myemail.com

Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

2 2 Sales Peter Evans sales@myemail.com

3 3 Marketing Stuart Davies marketing@myemail.com

 Select the name, manager and email address of employees in the

sales department

Command:

Output:

Inserting Data Using SQL

Comman
Description Example
d

INSERT INTO users (name, age)

Adds new data to a database VALUES ('John Doe',25);
INSERT
table (inserts a new user with the name 'John Doe
25)

UPDATE users
SET name = 'Bob', age = 56
UPDATE Edit data in a database table
WHERE ID = 4;
(updates name and age details for user ID =

Example

Table: Employees

 Insert a new employee into the Employees table with the 'Name',
'Salary', 'Department' and 'City' fields

Command:
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

Output:

Table: Employees

 Update employee ID 3 to a salary of 47500 and city to London

Command:

Output

Deleting Data Using SQL

Comman
Description Example
d

DELETE Removes data from a database DELETE FROM users

table WHERE age < 18;
(deletes all users younger than 18 from th
table)

DELETE FROM users

WHERE name="John";
Revision Notes AQA-Computer Science Prime Tuition

(deletes a record where the name is John)

Example

Table: Employees

ID Name Salary Department City

1 Fynn Roberts 45000 HR London

2 Zarmeen Azra 52000 Sales Manchester

3 Ella Stanley 39500 Marketing Birmingham

4 George Rope 47250 Sales Leeds

 Delete all records from the Employees table whose department is

'Marketing'

Command:

DELETE FROM Employees

WHERE Department = 'Marketing' ;

Output:

ID Name Salary Department City

1 Fynn Roberts 45000 HR London

2 Zarmeen Azra 52000 Sales Manchester

3 George Rope 47250 Sales Leeds

Worked Example

A database stores information about songs on a music streaming service.

One of the tables called Song has the fields Title, Artist, Genre and Length

A band called RandomBits removes their permission for their songs to be

streamed. The company removes all the songs belonging to RandomBits
from their service.

Write an SQL statement that will remove all songs by RandomBits from
the table Song [2]

Answer

DELETE FROM Song [1]

WHERE Artist = “RandomBits” [1]