What is a database – in short : a database is a computer system that allows information to be permanently stored, making it available for subsequent processing. More technically, it is a structured archive that preserves data homogeneous in format and content.
Memorize (and find) information
The fundamental tasks of a database, regardless of its type and operation, are to store information and to retrieve the saved data. For this reason, a DB is not a simple archive: thanks to certain languages it allows programmers to search among records .
Furthermore, in companies, the need to memorize – and process – uneven information is evident: personnel, payroll, expenses and resource management are just a few examples. With the advent of databases, however, this is made easier: once software has been developed that can interact with data, their management is made much easier, since they are organized.
A database, therefore, is to be imagined as a room containing all the documents (ie information) of a company (in this case of a program), organized organically. With the only difference that it is extremely faster and takes significantly less time to find everything that is required.
SQL or NoSQL?
To date there are two main types of databases: SQL and NoSQL. In fact, in the past, there have been other models which, however, have fallen into disuse.
SQL databases are among the most popular for integration with small / medium applications, as they are simple and, at the same time, very performing. They are organized in tables, where each row is called a record (or tuple ) and each column is an attribute . The number of columns remains constant, while the number of rows is (usually) constantly changing.
NoSQL databases, on the other hand, do not only exploit tables and, despite what the name suggests, do not exclude them a priori. The “No”, in fact, means “Not only”, “Not only”. These huge archives allow for organization into documents, graphs, key-values, etc. and are great for managing large amounts of information.
Nevertheless, both types allow to:
- retrieve and select information based on certain search criteria;
- modify the data previously entered in order to correct or update them;
- add new data;
- delete data that is no longer useful.
DBMS – DataBase Management System
A database, in reality, allows us very little if it is not accompanied by a DBMS. These are software systems that allow you to create , modify and – above all – query databases.
A Database Management System, in fact, has several tasks:
- checks the integrity of the data (a record cannot be modified simultaneously by several users);
- manages permissions, making it possible to select which users can access which information;
- they create, modify and query databases: in addition to creation and population, they allow you to find data.
The DBMS essentially constitute a sort of interface between the user (or the programmer) and the data, allowing a fast and precise implementation of databases.
DBMS are frequently run by special servers , whose only task is to manage information: an example is the MySQL implementation that you can find in my dedicated guide .
Conclusion
Databases represent a huge chunk of modern computing. They are very powerful tools, but they require long studies to be perfectly mastered: the difficulties mainly lie in having so much information and in deciding their structure. Data, today, are fundamental: managing them correctly is very important and, in many cases, it is not possible to give up databases. These are closely linked to the DBMS, to such an extent that the roles and characteristics of the two are often confused. Sometimes, they are spoken of as a single entity.
In this article, you learned what a database is and what it is for. Its applications in everyday life are almost infinite, as well as the number of topics related to it. Today you have read its fundamental characteristics, however in the future you will find, right here, other in-depth articles. Are you ready?
