Database and DBMS Fundamentals
intermediate22 min read
Data versus information, what a database and a DBMS are, the relational model and its terms (table, row, column, primary key, foreign key), the categories of SQL commands, and the ACID properties of a reliable transaction.
What you will be able to do
- Distinguish data from information and a database from a DBMS.
- State what a DBMS provides over ordinary files.
- Use the relational-model terms: table, record, field, primary key, foreign key.
- Name the categories of SQL commands and the ACID properties.
What is inside this lesson
- 1Data, information and a database
- 2What a DBMS provides
- 3The relational model
- 4SQL command categories
- 5Transactions and ACID
- 6Common confusions
- 7Quick revision
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Data, information and a database
- Data are raw, unorganised facts - a number, a name, a date - with no context.
- Information is data that has been processed and given context so it means something - "average deposit per branch this quarter".
- A database is an organised, structured collection of related data, stored so it can be efficiently searched, updated and shared, with the relationships between items preserved.
A database keeps data once and lets many applications and users work from that single, consistent copy.
The lesson itself is for members
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