Page 171 - DCAP104_EXPOSURE_TO_COMPUTER_DISCPLINES

Exposure to Computer Disciplines

Notes Introduction

All of us are familiar with the term data. In fact, unknowingly we come across data in our day-
to-day life everyday. The age of a person, price of potato, number of students in a school, pin
code of a city, etc. are some examples of data. In our life we have to remember so much of data.
But it is easier for us to remember all information for a few individuals. For example, you may
be in a position to tell accurately the age, height, complexion, income, educational qualification,
residential address, etc. of your close friends. But it is too difficult for you to memorise all these
information for a large number of individuals. Let us consider the example of National Open
School (NOS). Every year about one lakh students take admission in NOS. If you are asked to
memorise records of date of birth, subjects offered and postal address of all these students, it will
not be possible for you.
To deal with such problems we construct a database. We arrange all information about students
in a tabular form. We keep all the records so that if I am asked, ‘How many students are there in
Economics?’ I am in a position to answer.

8.1 Database

A database is a system intended to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. It
consists of an organized collection of data for one or more uses, typically in digital form. One
way of classifying databases involves the type of their contents, for example: bibliographic,
document-text, statistical. Digital databases are managed using database management systems,
which store database contents, allowing data creation and maintenance, and search and other
access.

A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can easily be accessed, managed,
and updated. In one view, databases can be classified according to types of content: bibliographic,
full-text, numeric, and images.

In computing, databases are sometimes classified according to their organizational approach.
The most prevalent approach is the relational database, a tabular database in which data is
defined so that it can be reorganized and accessed in a number of different ways. A distributed
database is one that can be dispersed or replicated among different points in a network. An
object-oriented programming database is one that is congruent with the data defined in object
classes and subclasses.
Computer databases typically contain aggregations of data records or files, such as sales
transactions, product catalogs and inventories, and customer profiles. Typically, a database
manager provides users the capabilities of controlling read/write access, specifying report
generation, and analyzing usage. Databases and database managers are prevalent in large
mainframe systems, but are also present in smaller distributed workstation and mid-range
systems such as the AS/400 and on personal computers. SQL (Structured Query Language)
is a standard language for making interactive queries from and updating a database such as
IBM’s DB2, Microsoft’s Access, and database products from Oracle, Sybase, and Computer
Associates.

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