What is a database?
| Databases |
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Simply put, a database is a computerized record keeping system. More completely, it is a system involving data, the hardware that physically stores that data, the software that utilizes the hardware's file system in order to 1) store the data and 2) provide a standardized method for retrieving or changing the data, and finally, the users who turn the data into information. Let's define exactly what a database is. If spreadsheets are the "number crunchers" of the digital world, then databases are the "information crunchers." Databases excel at managing and manipulating structured information. What does the term "structured information" mean? Consider that most ubiquitous of databases - the phone book. The phone book contains several items of information - name, address and phone number - about each phone subscriber in a particular area. Each subscriber's information takes the same form. In database "speak," the phone book is a table which contains a record for each subscriber. Each subscriber record contains three fields: name, address, and phone number. The records are sorted alphabetically by the name field, which is called the key field. Other examples of databases are club membership lists, customer lists, library catalogs, business card files, and parts inventories. The list of useful possible databases are, in fact, infinite. Using a database program such as Microsoft Access or the database program contained in Microsoft Works you can design a database to do anything from tracking your class assignments and grades to collecting information from NASA satellites. |
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