They are everywhere around us.
Understand what is a database.
A database is a software that stores and retrieves information. It’s a way to keep information in a logical and organized way.
The purpose of databases is to store and retrieve
information in a way that is accurate and effective.
An Excel spreadsheet is a database in its simplest form. But anyone who has used complex Excel file holding thousands of lines and columns will understand the limits of this format. That why we use modern databases. By querying a database, we can extract complex information in a simple and error-free way.
A real life analogy
To make a real life analogy, we could compare a database software to a file cabinet:
- The Database Management System would be the human that search the information
- The file cabinet represents the database. It holds tons of information more or less related together
- The files represent the database tables. They contain data about a specific concept like customers, invoices, etc.
- Each sheet represents a record in a table. For example, invoice #4571 or contract #A45Y
Relation between a program and a database
The user interface is the part the user sees and where he manipulates data to be able to accomplish tasks – send an email, update a customer information, etc. The software helps and guides the user in a – hopefully – easy way.
The database is the part underneath the software that manipulates data depending on what the program needs. For example, in the case of this website, the program is your browser and the technology that allows you to see this text – web server, etc. -. The database is the system that provided this information to your browser.
Databases are the foundation of software solutions
Databases are the foundations of software solutions. The bigger the software, the more important the database is. But even the simplest of software will use some kind of database to record information, even if it’s just a simple flat file.
But, even if it is not noticed by users, almost every system nowadays is powered by a database – your company’s ERP, the subway system, your favorite airliner. Every system has a database underneath to be able to process data.
Users generally won’t have any notion of the interactions with the database because everything is done underneath the user interface. The software will manage the interaction between the user and the data.
What is a Database Management System?
We can’t talk about what is a database without talking about Database Management Systems (DBMS). A DBMS is the software that is installed on a physical server and that stores and manages databases. It can run databases from multiple software. For example, it could manage the databases for the accounting system, the CRM and the ERP. Each system would then be in a separate database in the DBMS.
The main objectives of a DBMS is to provide error-free data and to keep a good level of performance. Since databases need live information, the modern DBMS are very powerful in managing a lot of users and processing huge amount of data.
But remember, a database is always as good as its design. A good DBMS won’t make make up for a poorly designed database.
Objectives of a databases
Objective #1: Data management
By allowing the developers to store the data in a logical way, a database simplifies the process of data management in software. It allows data to be saved in a way that eliminates errors.
Objective #2: Data integrity
A database system has mechanisms to make sure its data is accurate. The DBMS provides many ways of ensuring data integrity.
Obective #3: Performance
In larger systems, monitoring the database is a full-time job that is done by a database administrator (DBA). Modern database systems provide optimization and monitoring tools to database administrators. Modern database are very effective.They can process gigabytes of data in seconds.
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