Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives To develop an understanding of the aims and objectives of database technology and to develop a knowledge of a current data base management software package.
Synopsis Information management. Structured and non-structured information. The composite office document (data, image and video). Serial storage media. Serial and sequential file organisation. Extracting, sorting, merging, updating data. Randomly addressable storage. Random and relative file organisation. Key transforms. File space allocation. Disc directories. Indexing techniques. Indexed files. Inverted files. Logical data structures; trees, networks, lists, rings. Physical implementations. Entry point access; navigational access. The database concept. The database models. Theory and practice of relational database management systems. Text storage. Retrieval strategies. Strategies for archiving information. Information services available.
Assessment Examination (2 hours): 50% + Practical work: 50%