8.2 What is a database?

When data about a particular topic is stored it is said to be a database. A database program allows the data to be processed into information, something that can be communicated and understood.

Some databases that we use in everyday life are telephone books, dictionaries, atlases, bus timetables and so on. These can be online or in printed form.

Database terms

There are some important database terms that you will learn as you work through this topic.

Fields

Data within a database is usually divided into categories or sections called fields. The fields that the telephone book is divided into are:

Surname, Initials, Street Number, Street Name, Suburb, Telephone Number

These fields can vary in length, depending on how much data (characters) needs to be placed into them. For example, an Initials field does not need as much space as a Surname field. Fields can be set to different types depending on the data they need to contain. For example, fields that will contain names are set to text fields, fields that will contain numbers are set to number fields.

Records

One complete set of fields is termed a record. For example, each subscriber’s details in the phone book are a record. There are over 1 000 000 records in the Melbourne telephone book.

Files

A complete set of records is called a file. The phone book is divided into two files: white pages and yellow pages. The following diagram shows the different sections of an address file.