Limitations of file based system, Database Management System

Assignment Help:

Limitations of File Based System

The file-based system has some limitations. The limitations are listed as follows:

  • Isolation and separation of data: When the data is stored in separate files it becomes complex to access. It becomes very complex when the data has to be retrieved from more than two files as a large amount of data has to be looked for.
  • Duplication of data: Because of the decentralised approach, the file system varies to uncontrolled duplication of data. This is disagreeable as the duplication leads to wastage of a lot of storage space. It also money and cost times to enter the data more than once. For instance, the address information of student may have to be duplicated in bus list file data.
  • Inconsistent Data: The data in a file system can become inconsistent if more than one person changes the data simultaneously, for example, if any student changes the residence and the change is notified to only his/her file and not to bus list. Putting wrong data is also another reason for inconsistencies.
  • Data dependence: The physical structure and storage of data files and records are distinct in the application code. This means that it is very difficult to make changes to the existing structure. The programmer would have to recognize all the affected programs, change them and retest them. This characteristic of the File Based system is known as program data dependence.
  • Incompatible File Formats: As the structure of the files is embedded in application programs, the structure is fully dependent on application programming languages. Therefore the structure of a file generated by COBOL programming language may be quite dissimilar from a file generated by 'C' programming language. This incompatibility makes them hard to process together. The application developer may have to develop software to change the files to some common format for processing. Though, this may be time consuming and expensive.
  • Fixed Queries: File based systems are very much dependent on application programs. Any report or query needed by the organisation has to be developed by the application programmer. With type, the time, and number of queries or reports increases. Producing dissimilar types of queries or reports is not possible in File Based Systems. As a result, in some organisations the kind of queries or reports to be produced is fixed. No latest query or report of the data could be produced.

Besides the above, the maintenance of the File Based System is complex and there is no provision for security. Recovery is non-existent or inadequate.


Related Discussions:- Limitations of file based system

Implementing a data mining algorithm, i need to implememnt a treee based mi...

i need to implememnt a treee based mining algorithm. do you have an expert that can do that?

MYSQL, i have a homework assignment identical to one you have listed

i have a homework assignment identical to one you have listed

Define entity integrity and referential integrity, Define entity integrity ...

Define entity integrity and referential integrity.  How does SQL allow specification of  these? Ans: Entity Integrity Rule- If the attribute A of relation R is a prime attribut

Decompose the table - 3nf or bcnf, Decompose the table with the following ...

Decompose the table with the following description and functional dependencies into a set of equivalent tables normalized to 3NF or BCNF. A long-standing international treaty am

Write a qbe query to display names of cs department, Consider a table stude...

Consider a table student (std_id, std_name, date_of_birth, percent_marks, dept_name). Write a QBE query to display names of Computer Science department students who have scored mo

Explain the relational completeness, Explain the Relational Completeness ...

Explain the Relational Completeness Codd described the term relational completeness to consider to a language that is complete with respect to first-order predicate calculus ex

Payment processors, We have a buildup of payments that need to be processed...

We have a buildup of payments that need to be processed. You will need:- To prepare customer account on our site Process payment (you must have working Paypal account to d

Having clause-data manipulation language, Having clause This clause...

Having clause This clause is used for producing conditions on grouped information. Example: Find maximum salary and department number of those departments where maxim

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd