A database is an organized collection of data. There must be a certain degree of quality to that organization for something to be considered a database. Databases use a variety of DBMS's(Database Management Systems). The term 'database' refers to the data and data structures themselves while the software managing those structures is what is referred to as the DBMS. The most standard database language is SQL.
The first databases were navigational models. That means that they accessed data by 'following pointers from one record to another'. Today's databases are predominantly of the relational model which focuses on searchability.
Muddiest Point: I do not understand what an 'entity relationship model' and a 'query' language are. I also don't feel like I really understood what the navigational model was. I feel like it is likely that next week's lecture will clarify most of this. I've used MS Excel a little before but I do not have much experience working with database management programs which is probably why I'm not as familiar with some of what this week's reading was trying to explain.
No comments:
Post a Comment