Preview
IB DP Computer Science — A3 Databases — Database fundamentals | SL | A3.1.1
📋 What You Will Learn
- Define a relational database and its core features: tables, primary keys, composite keys, foreign keys and relationships
- Explain how a foreign key links two tables and enforces referential integrity
- Explain the benefits of relational databases: consistency, integrity, concurrency control, reliable transactions, reduced duplication, retrieval, scalability, security and community support
- Explain the limitations: rigid schema, design complexity, hierarchical and unstructured data handling, "big data" scaling, and the object-relational impedance mismatch
- Evaluate whether a relational database suits a given scenario
🗄️ Why This Matters A school that keeps every fact about a student — name, class, tutor, tutor's email — on one giant paper list must rewrite hundreds of lines when a tutor changes their email. A relational database stores each fact once , in its own table, and lets tables point at each other. Change the email in one place and