Databases essays

Databases essays The database consists of characters or a group of characters that form a field. A related group of fields creates a record. The records are combined to form a file. The files are grouped to form a database. Databases can contain only characters or can also include images, sound, and movies to form a multimedia database. Businesses need data so that it is available, modifiable, and controllable. Data files can be organized in a sequentially, direct, or indexed file. The data must be kept up to date and correct. To do this a data validation process must be used. The advantage of data files is that they are easy to use. The disadvantages are that when multiple data files are required for the business a lot of duplication of data and effort is involved; this is where databases comes to play. The database consolidates the different data files into one database and is managed with database management software. The database is a collection of data and relationships in the stored data. Throu gh the relationships established in the database the updating of the database normally requires single entries for one field or record. The database will then update the other databases within the whole database based on that input. This is the primary advantage of the database method of managing data. The greatest disadvantage of database software is the cost of the software and the need for a more powerful computer with larger storage, both primary and secondary, to store the data. Another disadvantage is that the database is stored altogether on one disk, if that disk is damaged or destroyed all data is lost. The final disadvantage is that systems utilizing this system can be complex to develop. Database relationships can be one-to-one, one-to-many or many-to-many. The most common type of database in use today is the relational database utilizing one of the relationships. The relational database requires the use of a primary key that uniquely identifies ...