database

database

Computing a systematized collection of data that can be accessed immediately and manipulated by a data-processing system for a specific purpose

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

database

An organized collection of related data that is stored in a computer system and is accessed by means of a set of programs known as a database management system. A database may provide data that is available to all users of a computer system and may be shared by a number of different applications. Examples include ESA's EXOSAT Database and NASA's Astrophysics Data System.

Collins Dictionary of Astronomy © Market House Books Ltd, 2006

database

[′dad·ə‚bās]

(computer science)

A nonredundant collection of interrelated data items that can be shared and used by several different subsystems.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

database

(database)

One or more large structured sets of persistent data, usually associated with software to update and query the data. A simple database might be a single file containing many records, each of which contains the same set of fields where each field is a certain fixed width.

A database is one component of a database management system.

See also ANSI/SPARC Architecture, atomic, blob, data definition language, deductive database, distributed database, fourth generation language, functional database, object-oriented database, relational database.

Carol E. Brown's tutorial.

database

(hypertext)

A collection of nodes managed and stored in one place and all accessible via the same server. Links outside this are "external", and those inside are "internal".

On the World-Wide Web this is called a website.

database

(3)

All the facts and rules comprising a logic programming program.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

database

A set of related files that is created and managed by a database management system (DBMS). Today, most DBMSs can manage any form of data including text, images, sound and video. Database and file structures are always determined by the software. As far as the hardware is concerned, all data are simply "bits and bytes." See DBMS.

Data Are Bits and Bytes

To the hardware, data are nothing more than bits and bytes. The software determines the format of the data and how to handle it. To understand data and file structures, review the hierarchy and terms in this illustration.

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