DATABASES

A DATABASE IS AN ORGANISED COLLECTION OF DATA. IT IS USED

TO STORE A GREAT NUMBER OF DATA AND MAKES IT POSSIBLE
TO SEARCH AND FIND SPECIFIC DATA AND GENERATE REPORTS.
A REPORT IS THE RESULT OF A DATABASE WHICH CAN BE
CLASSIFIED AS “RELATIONAL” OR “NON-RELATIONAL”.
NON RELATIONAL DATABASES CAN BE CLASSIFIED INTO:
- FLAT-FILE DATABASE- ALL DATA ARE ORGANISED
SEQUENTIALLY AND INTO ONE SINGLE TABLE WHICH CAN BE
VIEWED BY OPENING ONE DATA FILE.
- NETWORK DATABASE- THE ENTITIES, THE WAY IN WHICH
THE RECORDS ARE CALLED, ARE ORGANISED IN A GRAPH
WHICH IS THE RESULT OF COMPLEX RELATIONSHIPS OF
DATA.
- OBJECT-ORIENTED DATABASE- DATA ARE STORED AS
“OBJECTS”, WHICH BELONG TO A “CLASS” WHICH ARE
DEFINED BY A “METHOD”.
EX: THE OBJECT IS A CAR WHICH BELONGS TO THE CLASS OF
VEHICLES WHICH HAVE SOME CHARACTERISTICS.
RELATIONAL DATABASE
A RELATIONAL DATABASE STORES DATA IN SEPARATE TABLES
AND FILES, AND DATA ARE ORGANISED IN FIELDS AND RECORDS.
ALL DATA ARE LINKED TOGETHER BY “KEY FIELDS” AND NO
RECORDS HAVE THE SAME VALUE IN IT.
THE FIRST STEP IN CREATING A DATABASE IS TO DECIDE WHAT
FIELDS WE NEED. THEN EACH FIELD NEEDS A NAME, A
DESCRIPTION OF ITS CONTENTS, A DATA TYPE AND A FORMAT.
THESE TYPES OF RELATIONAL DATABASES ARE PREDOMINANT
TODAY BECAUSE THEY HAVE A HIGH LEVEL OF FLEXIBILITY AND
GREAT POWER TO ASK QUESTIONS. THE LANGUAGE USED FOR
QUESTIONS IS CALLED SQL (STRUCTURED QUERY LANGUAGE).