Data Independence and types of Data Independence:

Data Independence


Data independence means that “the application is independent of the storage structure and access strategy of data”. In other words, The ability to modify the schema definition in one level should not affect the schema definition in the next higher level.

Two types of Data Independence:

1. Physical Data Independence: Modification in physical level should not affect the logical level.
2. Logical Data Independence: Modification in logical level should affect the view level.

NOTE: Logical Data Independence is more difficult to achieve


View & How is it related to data independence?

A view may be thought of as a virtual table, that is, a table that does not really exist in its own right but is instead derived from one or more underlying base table. In other words, there is no stored file that direct represents the view instead a definition of view is stored in data dictionary.
Growth and restructuring of base tables is not reflected in views. Thus the view can insulate users from the effects of restructuring and growth in the database. Hence accounts for logical data independence.