Database

A database is a collection of data or information which is held together in an organised or logical way.

- How many of you have ever kept details of your friends or families birthdays in a birthday book?

- How many of you have written your friend's addresses into an address book?

- How many of you have a copy of the Yellow Pages at home?

If you have answered YES to any of these questions, then you have used a 'paper-based' database.

- Birthdays were organised in logical order of 'month'

- Addresses were stored in logical order of 'surname'

- Telephone numbers were stored in logical order of 'profession' e.g. gardener, builder, plumber.

These examples were of paper-based databases. However, when we use the term 'database' we generally think of a computerised database.

In order to find the right web sites for you. Search engines need a vast computerised database which they search using your entered keywords

Many schools now use electronic registers. These contain a database with records for every student in the school.

The database records student's attendance both at school and in lessons.

If you don't want to use the paper-based version, a telephone number can be found using an online database such as yell.co.uk.

Type in the category you are looking for e.g. builder, type in the area e.g. Warwick and a search will be performed on all the records in the database before giving you a list of results which match your requirements a second or so later.

The police use various databases to help them track criminals and solve crimes.
They are able to look for trends or patterns in crimes and this helps them to establish whether a person could be responsible for a series of burglaries or assaults that have been taking place.

A library stores details of all their books, in a database. When you want to know if a book is in stock, you can not only look it up, but you can also check when it is due to be returned.

The database also records details of all the borrowers, what books they currently have borrowed and when they are due back.

A field is a coloum with a specific type of information in it eg. Last Surname would be a field because that coloum holds Last Surnames

A database is a collection of data or information which is held together in an organised or logical way.

When patients go into hospital, they are given a patient number (primary key).

This means that any treatment can be recorded on their record and they will be given the right operation.

- How many of you have ever kept details of your friends or families birthdays in a birthday book?

- How many of you have written your friend's addresses into an address book?

- How many of you have a copy of the Yellow Pages at home?

If you have answered YES to any of these questions, then you have used a 'paper-based' database.

- Birthdays were organised in logical order of 'month'

- Addresses were stored in logical order of 'surname'

- Telephone numbers were stored in logical order of 'profession' e.g. gardener, builder, plumber.

These examples were of paper-based databases. However, when we use the term 'database' we generally think of a computerised database.

You would think that 'telephone number' should be a 'number' data type. However all telephone numbers start with a 0 and you can't put a 0 in front of a 'number' datatype, so telephone number needs to be set as a 'text' datatype.

In order to find the right web sites for you. Search engines need a vast computerised database which they search using your entered keywords

Many schools now use electronic registers. These contain a database with records for every student in the school.

The database records student's attendance both at school and in lessons.

If you don't want to use the paper-based version, a telephone number can be found using an online database such as yell.co.uk.

Type in the category you are looking for e.g. builder, type in the area e.g. Warwick and a search will be performed on all the records in the database before giving you a list of results which match your requirements a second or so later.

The police use various databases to help them track criminals and solve crimes.
They are able to look for trends or patterns in crimes and this helps them to establish whether a person could be responsible for a series of burglaries or assaults that have been taking place.

A library stores details of all their books, in a database. When you want to know if a book is in stock, you can not only look it up, but you can also check when it is due to be returned.

The database also records details of all the borrowers, what books they currently have borrowed and when they are due back.

A field is a coloum with a specific type of information in it eg. Last Surname would be a field because that coloum holds Last Surnames

When patients go into hospital, they are given a patient number (primary key).

This means that any treatment can be recorded on their record and they will be given the right operation.

You would think that 'telephone number' should be a 'number' data type. However all telephone numbers start with a 0 and you can't put a 0 in front of a 'number' datatype, so telephone number needs to be set as a 'text' datatype.