Definition of Database
The basic concept ,
derived from the Latin basis , has multiple uses. The term can
be used with reference to the support or foundation of something. A piece
of information , on the other hand, is a specific information, a
testimony, a test or a documentation.
With these
definitions we can now detail the scope of the notion of database ,
which is used very often in the field of information technology .
It
is known as a database to the set of information that is organized and
structured in a specific way so that its content can be treated and
analyzed quickly and easily. The
databases, therefore, present structured data according to different parameters . By
arranging the information in a certain way, the user can find what
they are looking for easily, unlike what would happen if all the data were
mixed and without any kind of order.
In the
computer field, the content of a database can be consulted through software .
Suppose
a journalist has a database that presents information about European
footballers. If you want to find out which is the most veteran football
player in the continent, you can make a query through the software and the
database will automatically sort the information according to age.
If the
database is not digital, however, the search for information can be more
complicated. When a library collects the information of its
books in cards or paper cards that are ordered by author and initial
letter of the title, who wants to access a piece of information will have to
review several cards before finding the corresponding one. Among the
advantages of digital databases, in addition to the aforementioned
query speed, we
can mention the flexibility to expand them and relate the tables in very varied
ways. For example, if in a physical database we wanted to add a series of
fields (in addition to registering "name" and "last name"
of the clients, including their "address" and their "email
address"), then we should take each one of the cards, write the name of them
and finally specify the data for each one.
If there was
no more room in one of the tabs, it would be necessary to annexanother,
something that would even more arduous task. In a computer, simply add the
desired number of columns only once, and then simply update each record with
the new data.
With respect
to the relationship between the different tables, this is the point
at which
the power of the digital databases becomes really fascinating . If
we have to compile the database of students of a school, for example, the
simplest version would include a table with the personal information of each,
such as his name and surname, his registration date, his address and the contact
information .
Of course,
to take advantage of the possibilities offered by computer science, we could
make it much more complex. If we wanted to specify in which year and
division each one is currently, as well as the data of the teachers with whom
they are studying, it would not be very appropriate to include all this in
the registry of each student, since this would suppose a colossal
work, that it should be updated every year; Here relations between tables
come into play.
If we add a
table called "Groups", there we can record once the data of teachers
who are working in each class, in each division, and simply relate the table
"Students" with it so that it is enough to indicate a value (like
being the unique group code ) to access all the details of your
class. Moreover, the teacher-specific data should be in their own table,
from which we could take just an identification number to refer to
them in "Groups".
