Database Jargon

What is a Database?
A database is simply a collection of data, stored in an organized way.
For example, it may be:
_ an address list
_ employee details
_ details about items in stock.

A simple database could be used to store the names and addresses of those you send Christmas cards to, or details of your CD collection. A more complex database could be used to store the data that you need to run your company, e.g. supplier, customer, stock and order details.

Database Jargon
If you have never used a database before, you might not have encountered some of the database terminology that we will use in this book. Here are brief definitions of the terms you will come across.

Table: All the data on one topic is stored in a table. A table could contain details of the employees that work for your company. In a simple database, you might have only one table. More complex ones may consist of several tables.

Record: The data for a single item in a table is held in that item’s record. Using the employee table example, each employee would have their own record within the employee table.

Field: A field is a piece of information within a record e.g. in your employee table, things like surname, job title, date of birth, or salary grade.

Field name: The label, or name, given to a field.

Primary key: A special field that will contain a unique piece of information in each record e.g. StaffID.

Relationship: A relationship is used to link two tables through a common field.

Join: The process of linking two tables is often referred to as joining them.

Data definition: The process of defining, or describing, the data to be stored. This will involve specifying the data type (text, number, date), the field size, and how it is related to other tables.

Data manipulation: This term describes any work done on existing data within your tables. Sorting and extracting data and producing reports from it would all be examples of data manipulation.

Enjoy it.