Chapter 18 - Databases

Database

An organized collection of data that stores and retrieves data.

Flat-file databases

Databases where data is stored in one table, organized by rows and columns.

Relational databases

Databases where data is stored in more than one linked table, stored in a file, with tables linked through relationships.

Field

A single item of data within a database, each field has a field name and contains one type of data.

Record

A collection of fields within a database.

File

An organized collection of records within a database, can have one or more tables within.

Key fields

The fields that establish relationships between tables within a database.

Primary key field

A field that holds unique data and is used to identify a specific record within a table.

Foreign key field

Fields that store values from a primary key field in another table.

Data types and sub-types

Different categories of data that can be stored in a database, including alphanumeric (text), numeric (integer, decimal, currency), and boolean (Yes/No, True/False).