database

4. Databases:
Many small (personal computer) applications corporate information systems take a file-based approach to data storage. As an example of this approach if we take the customers information , the customers’ names , addresses, products, and services , each of these information stored in a separate file and there is no relation between them , so another approach appear it’s called data base approach, which all information stored under one data base.

A specialized system, the database management system (DBMS), will control all access to the database and be responsible for security, integrity, data formats, backups and other technical issues.


Data Structures :

1. Database: The totality of the data collected by an information system is called the database.

2. File and Table: Normally, the database will be structured into smaller logical or physical units: tables or files. The table is really a logical concept while the file is a physical way in which data is stored on the computer.

3. Record: Within a table (or file), information will be organized in the form of records. In the customer database, there may be a record containing all the data about customer (including his address, contact numbers, etc.), there will be another record for each of the customers.

4. Field: The information within a record is structured into separate fields. In practice, the customer name may be split into at least three separate fields: one for his surname, one for his first name, one for his designation “Mr. “. Similarly, the address will usually be split into several fields, the town and the street.

5. Characters and Bytes: Finally, the data inside a field will be encoded in a number of characters (for textual data) or bytes (for numerical and multimedia data).