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

Create table employee and enter employee data in sql, Create table employee...

Create table employee and enter employee data in SQL? Consider the following relational schemas: EMPLOYEE (EMPLOYEE_NAME, STREET, CITY) WORKS (EMPLOYEE_NAME, COMPANYNAME, SAL

What is deadlock, What is deadlock? Neither of the transaction can ever...

What is deadlock? Neither of the transaction can ever proceed with its normal implementation. This situation is known as deadlock.

Example of weak entity, Consider the entity type dependent related to emplo...

Consider the entity type dependent related to employee entity, which is used to keep track of the dependents of every employee. The attributes of dependents are: name, sex, birth d

Develop a simple database of student records, In this programming assignmen...

In this programming assignment, you will develop a simple database of student records. Here are the requirements: 1) A student record contains a name and a number. We assume tha

Why were functional methods fashionable in early days, Why were functional ...

Why were functional methods fashionable in early days? These are inspired directly by computer architecture and thus popular among computer scientist in early days. The divisio

Data, Explain three main attributes of data.

Explain three main attributes of data.

Define average seek time, Define average seek time. The average seek ti...

Define average seek time. The average seek time is the average of the seek times, calculated over a sequence of random requests.

Keys, it can be possible to create any table without primary key

it can be possible to create any table without primary key

What is object oriented model, What is Object Oriented model? This mod...

What is Object Oriented model? This model is based on collection of objects. An object has values stored in instance variables with in the object. An object also having bodies

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