Hello, Friends today we are going to learn about what is database. We are going to introduce you about database that how database works, what is database, what is data, what is information, what is knowledge, features of data in database, etc. So let’s go to our topic.
What is Database: Introduction
We might have heard about the word data, which means collecting unorganized numbers, characters, text, etc. Some common examples of data include marks, phone numbers, weights, prices, costs, number of items sold, product names, addresses, registration marks, etc. A collection of related data is called a “Database.”
Database plays a crucial role in virtually all places where computers have been utilized, including instruction, library, science, medicine, business, law, engineering, etc.
On account of the recent advancements, the computers’ storage capability and the computing rate have increased, therefore today a great deal of information is being managed from the computers.
Before studying much regarding the Database Management System (DBMS) concepts, we have to be first aware of these conditions such as data, information, and database.
What is Data
Data is defined as a collection of meaningful facts which can be stored and processed by computers or humans. In other words, it is a collection of unorganized facts, concepts, or instructions in a formalized manner suitable for communication, interpretation, processing by humans, or some automatic means such as computers, ATMs.
The main examples of data are phone numbers, weights, prices, costs, number of items sold, product names, addresses, registration marks, etc.
In terms of computing, data is defined as a collection of facts that have been translated into a form that is more convenient to analyze or to do further calculations.
Data can be represented in the form of:
- Instructions in computer language can be either numeric, alphabetic, or alphanumeric.
- Images, pictures, video segments, multimedia, and animated data.
Some Examples of Data :
- 2221023, 2120570, 3109007, etc. numbers can be used to represent telephone number data.
- LUX, COLGATE, REXONA, etc. words can be used to represent product name data.
- Pictures of animals, people can be used to represent image data.
What is Information
Information is defined as the processed data which helps us in making decisions. It is an intelligent form of data. For example, paychecks, timetable, bills, profits, reports, receipts, comparison of sales figures, merit list, printed documents, etc. the information is obtained by arranging data into a meaningful form. For example, the students’ marks and their roll numbers form the data, and their report card/sheet is the information that helps us decide which student stood at which rank in the class.
Thus, to conclude, information can be defined as the output produced when the data is being manipulated, which helps in decision making.
What is Knowledge
Information organized and evaluated in the human’s mind to be used purposefully is known as knowledge. In other words, the sum of information and experience the person has acquired or learned and can recall or use it is known as knowledge. For example, 515089.50 is a data, “Your bank balance has jumped 700% to Rs. 515089.5” is a piece of information, “Nobody owes me that much money” is knowledge.
What is Database: Meaning & Definition
Meaning: Data is a precious resource in the operation and management of an organization. So, it is crucial to organize the data in a meaningful way. Unorganized data has no meaning. With the increased demand for data in various organizations such as banks, universities, railways, companies, telephone directories, etc., it becomes necessary to store the data in an organized way to use it again and again. So we need a database to store the data in an organized form. To sum up, a Database can be defined as “A well-organized collection of data that are related in a meaningful way which can be accessed by different users but stored only once.”
Definition: “A database is a collection of interrelated data stored in a database server; these data will be stored in the form of tables.” or “A database is a structured collection of records that are stored in a computer system, related together, which can be accessed by different users but the data stores only once.”
To understand the concept of a database, consider an example of a telephone directory in which names/surnames of a person are arranged alphabetically. So it becomes easier to look at any telephone number like a specific name. If this ordering isn’t organized, then it’s complicated to look at a telephone number of a particular person, so this shows why databases are needed.
Another example of a database storing data in LIC’s policies, employee information in a company, student record is a University, English words in Dictionary, etc.
Features of data in a database
The main features of data in a database are :
- The database should be well organized.
- It should be related.
- The database should be Integrated, or in other words, it should be correct.
- It should represent the relationship with the real world.
- Data should share it among different users as well as applications.
- It should be stored permanently so that Data can use it later on.
- It should be available when and where it is needed, i.e., it should be accessible.
- Data should secure from unauthorized user’s access.
- Data at the various level should be independent of each other so that changes in one level should not affect the other levels.
- It should be stored only once and can be used again and again whenever it is required.
- It should be flexible to change.
To maintain a huge database, we need certain operations that efficiently preserve the data in the database. The most commonly used operations performed on the database are:
- Insertion – To add new data into the database ( For example, add new phone numbers into the telephone directory).
- Updation – To modify the existing data (For example, suppose that a telephone number of a particular person is changed, you have to modify the telephone directory by replacing the old phone number with a new phone number).
- Deletion – To delete the existing data from the database. For example, suppose a person shifts from Amritsar to Delhi, then information about that person should be deleted from Amritsar’s telephone directory.
- Selection – To view or retrieve the stored data, for example: to view a telephone number of a particular person, we can search his number from the telephone directory.
In addition to the above basic operations performed on the database’s data, we can also perform operations like sorting (arranging the data in ascending or descending order), Merging, etc.
Significance of database in real word
The database is not a new concept; it has been used as a record-keeping system for managing the data manually when the use of computers was not so common, Now we shall give some examples which would show where the database used them.
1. Consider an example of an accounting department in which we have to calculate each employee’s monthly salary. We have to deduct its loans were taken, income tax, and insurance paid in this process. Thus, calculating the monthly salary of different organization employees is very tedious and repetitive as the same process is repeated repeatedly. So it was just a wastage of human intelligence. The same was in the case of banks.
2. Consider an example of a telephone directory. We need to add a new phone of a person whose last name starts with ‘A,’ and the page allotted to that name is finished. Then to add the name we have below to option :
- Either start with a new page at the end of the directory.
- Transfer all the names to a new directory having more pages for each character. Using the below option :
(a) The searching would be a tedious job since the data is being scattered on different pages.
(b) It would be very time-consuming process.
3. Consider another example of a person who has forgotten his account number of a particular bank. So he wants to enquire about his account number based on his name. Now there are more than 5000 accounts of different persons. To search his account number, the bank would search for each person’s account number, which is very time-consuming and challenging process.
4. Consider another example in which the telephone number of some persons of a particular city has changed. So updating the telephone numbers of those persons in the telephone directory would be a difficult job. We can overcome this problem by creating a new directory or inserting changed numbers on a new page.
From the above examples, it is clear that maintaining the database manually is very time-consuming and challenging job. So to overcome these problems we need a high-speed computing device like computers, ATMs, etc. With the advancement and increase in storage devices’ storage capacity, it is now possible to handle huge databases easily.
Why database should be stored in computers
So far, we have learned about the shortcomings of handling databases manually. So to remove them we need computers. Due to the following properties of the computers, it is used for managing huge Databases.
- Computers have huge storage capacity so that they can store a large amount of data in them.
- It have fast processing speed to handle operations like insertion, deletion, searching, and updation in no time.
- Computers never get bored and tired. It can perform repetitive tasks of calculations continuously.
- With the help of computers, multiple users can access the database simultaneously. For example, in a bank, the users can view account information from any terminal.
- Computers are more accurate and never commit mistakes so that a huge Database can be error-free.
- In computers, computers can store data in the form of files, records, and fields.
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