Referential Integrity
Referential integrity is a property of data stating that all its references are valid. In the context of relational databases, it requires that if a value of one attribute (column) of a relation (table) references a value of another attribute (either in the same or a different relation), then the referenced value must exist. For referential integrity to hold in a relational database, any column in a base table that is declared a foreign key can only contain either null values or values from a parent table's primary key or a candidate key. In other words, when a foreign key value is used it must reference a valid, existing primary key in the parent table. For instance, deleting a record that contains a value referred to by a foreign key in another table would break referential integrity. Some relational database management systems (RDBMS) can enforce referential integrity, normally either by deleting the foreign key rows as well to maintain integrity, or by returning an error and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Referential Integrity Broken
A reference is a relationship between objects in which one object designates, or acts as a means by which to connect to or link to, another object. The first object in this relation is said to ''refer to'' the second object. It is called a ''name'' for the second object. The next object, the one to which the first object refers, is called the ''referent'' of the first object. A name is usually a phrase or expression, or some other symbolic representation. Its referent may be anything – a material object, a person, an event, an activity, or an abstract concept. References can take on many forms, including: a thought, a sensory perception that is audible (onomatopoeia), visual (text), olfactory, or tactile, emotional state, relationship with other, spacetime coordinates, symbolic or alpha-numeric, a physical object, or an energy projection. In some cases, methods are used that intentionally hide the reference from some observers, as in cryptography. References feature in many s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monoids
In abstract algebra, a monoid is a set equipped with an associative binary operation and an identity element. For example, the nonnegative integers with addition form a monoid, the identity element being . Monoids are semigroups with identity. Such algebraic structures occur in several branches of mathematics. The functions from a set into itself form a monoid with respect to function composition. More generally, in category theory, the morphisms of an object to itself form a monoid, and, conversely, a monoid may be viewed as a category with a single object. In computer science and computer programming, the set of strings built from a given set of characters is a free monoid. Transition monoids and syntactic monoids are used in describing finite-state machines. Trace monoids and history monoids provide a foundation for process calculi and concurrent computing. In theoretical computer science, the study of monoids is fundamental for automata theory (Krohn–Rhodes theory), ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Propagation Constraint
In database systems, a propagation constraint "details what should happen to a related table when we update a row or rows of a target table" (Paul Beynon-Davies, 2004, p.108). Tables are linked using primary key to foreign key relationships. It is possible for users to update one table in a relationship in such a way that the relationship is no longer consistent and this is known as breaking referential integrity. An example of breaking referential integrity: if a table of employees includes a department number for 'Housewares' which is a foreign key to a table of departments and a user deletes that department from the department table then Housewares employees records would refer to a non-existent department number. Propagation constraints are methods used by relational database management systems (RDBMS) to solve this problem by ensuring that relationships between tables are preserved without error. In his database textbook, Beynon-Davies explains the three ways that RDBMS handle ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Functional Dependency
In relational database theory, a functional dependency is the following constraint between two attribute sets in a relation: Given a relation ''R'' and attribute sets ''X'',''Y'' \subseteq ''R'', ''X'' is said to functionally determine ''Y'' (written ''X'' → ''Y'') if each ''X'' value is associated with precisely one ''Y'' value. ''R'' is then said to satisfy the functional dependency ''X'' → ''Y''. Equivalently, the projection \Pi_R is a function, that is, ''Y'' is a function of ''X''. In simple words, if the values for the ''X'' attributes are known (say they are ''x''), then the values for the ''Y'' attributes corresponding to ''x'' can be determined by looking them up in ''any'' tuple of ''R'' containing ''x''. Customarily ''X'' is called the ''determinant'' set and ''Y'' the ''dependent'' set. A functional dependency FD: ''X'' → ''Y'' is called ''trivial'' if ''Y'' is a subset of ''X''. In other words, a dependency FD: ''X'' → ''Y'' means that the values of ''Y'' ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Entity Integrity
Entity integrity is concerned with ensuring that each row of a table has a unique and non-null primary key value; this is the same as saying that each row in a table represents a single instance of the entity type modelled by the table. A requirement of E. F. Codd in his seminal paper is that a primary key of an entity, or any part of it, can never take a null value. The relational model states that every relation (or table) must have an identifier, called the primary key (abbreviated PK), in such a way that every row of the same relation be identifiable by its content, that is, by a unique and minimal value. The PK is a not empty set of attributes (or columns). The same format applies to the foreign key (abbreviated FK) because each FK matches a preexistent PK. Each of attributes being part of a PK (or of a FK) must have data values (such as numbers, letters or typographic symbols) but not data marks (also known as NULL marks in SQL world). Morphologically, a composite primary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Data Integrity
Data integrity is the maintenance of, and the assurance of, data accuracy and consistency over its entire Information Lifecycle Management, life-cycle. It is a critical aspect to the design, implementation, and usage of any system that stores, processes, or retrieves data. The term is broad in scope and may have widely different meanings depending on the specific context even under the same general umbrella of computing. It is at times used as a proxy term for data quality, while data validation is a prerequisite for data integrity. Definition Data integrity is the opposite of data corruption. The overall intent of any data integrity technique is the same: ensure data is recorded exactly as intended (such as a database correctly rejecting mutually exclusive possibilities). Moreover, upon later Data retrieval, retrieval, ensure the data is the same as when it was originally recorded. In short, data integrity aims to prevent unintentional changes to information. Data integrity is no ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dangling Pointer
Dangling pointers and wild pointers in computer programming are pointers that do not point to a valid object of the appropriate type. These are special cases of memory safety violations. More generally, dangling references and wild references are references that do not resolve to a valid destination. Dangling pointers arise during object destruction, when an object that is pointed to by a given pointer is deleted or deallocated, without modifying the value of that said pointer, so that the pointer still points to the memory location of the deallocated memory. The system may reallocate the previously freed memory, and if the program then dereferences the (now) dangling pointer, '' unpredictable behavior may result'', as the memory may now contain completely different data. If the program writes to memory referenced by a dangling pointer, a silent corruption of unrelated data may result, leading to subtle bugs that can be extremely difficult to find. If the memory has been real ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Null Pointer
In computing, a null pointer (sometimes shortened to nullptr or null) or null reference is a value saved for indicating that the Pointer (computer programming), pointer or reference (computer science), reference does not refer to a valid Object (computer science), object. Programs routinely use null pointers to represent conditions such as the end of a List (computing), list of unknown length or the failure to perform some action; this use of null pointers can be compared to nullable types and to the ''Nothing'' value in an option type. A null pointer should not be confused with an uninitialized variable, uninitialized pointer: a null pointer is guaranteed to compare unequal to any pointer that points to a valid object. However, in general, most languages do not offer such guarantee for uninitialized pointers. It might compare equal to other, valid pointers; or it might compare equal to null pointers. It might do both at different times; or the comparison might be undefined behavio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Database Object
A database object is a structure for storing, Database administrator, managing and presenting application- or user-specific data in a database. Depending on the database management system (DBMS), many different types of database objects can exist. The following is a list of the most common types of database objects found in most relational databases (RDBMS): * Tablespace, storage space for tables in a database * Table (database), Tables, a set of values organized into rows and columns * Database index, Indexes, a data structure providing faster queries (at the expense of slower writing and storage to maintain the index structure) * View (SQL), Views, a virtual table that is made as it is queried * Synonym (database), Synonyms, alternate names for a table, view, sequence or other object in a database * Stored procedures and user-defined functions * Database trigger, Triggers, procedures which are run automatically based on specific events * Database constraint, Constraints, a constr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft SQL Server is a proprietary relational database management system developed by Microsoft using Structured Query Language (SQL, often pronounced "sequel"). As a database server, it is a software product with the primary function of storing and retrieving data as requested by other software applications—which may run either on the same computer or on another computer across a network (including the Internet). Microsoft markets at least a dozen different editions of Microsoft SQL Server, aimed at different audiences and for workloads ranging from small single-machine applications to large Internet-facing applications with many concurrent users. History The history of Microsoft SQL Server begins with the first Microsoft SQL Server product—SQL Server 1.0, a 16-bit server for the OS/2 operating system in 1989—and extends to the current day. Its name is entirely descriptive, it being '' server'' software that responds to queries in the '' SQL'' language. Mil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Delete (SQL)
In the database structured query language ( SQL), the DELETE statement is used to remove one or more records from a table. A subset may be defined for deletion using a condition, otherwise all records are removed. Some database management systems (DBMSs), like MySQL MySQL () is an Open-source software, open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). Its name is a combination of "My", the name of co-founder Michael Widenius's daughter My, and "SQL", the acronym for Structured Query Language. A rel ..., allow deletion of rows from multiple tables with one DELETE statement (this is sometimes called multi-table DELETE). Examples Delete rows from table ''pies'' where column ''flavor'' equals ''Lemon Meringue'': DELETE FROM pies WHERE flavor='Lemon Meringue'; Delete rows in ''trees'', if the value of ''height'' is smaller than 80. DELETE FROM trees WHERE height < 80; Delete all rows from ''mytable'': [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |