Term |
Description |
Data |
This is simply information |
Database |
A collection of information |
Table |
A table contains a collection of related information |
Row |
A row contains information relating to one specific instance within a table. Also called a record. |
Column |
A column is an attribute of the data in a table. This is synonymous with field. Example: the instance of a person may have the following attributes (or fields): height, weight, firstName, lastName, age, etc... |
DBMS |
Data Base Management System - this is the application which manages and maitains the information within a database. |
RDBMS |
Relational Data Base Management System - this is a DBMS which enforces certain relationships within a database. Examples of these include: Access, Oracle, MS SQL Server, PostGre and more. |
SQL |
Structured Query Language - This is a simple programming language for retreiving, updating, and managing data within a DBMS or RDBMS. |
ANSI |
American National Standards Institute - Organization which develops standards for RDBMS structures. |
Primary key |
A field within a database which uniquely identifies a record. |
Foreign key |
A field in a database table which is associated with field in another table. |
Datatype |
The type of data stored in a field. Examples include: VARCHAR, CHAR, INT, DATE, DATETIME, BLOB, etc... |
Trigger |
An automated process used by the DBMS to enforce referential integrity |
Normalization |
A process of formatting the data structure within a database to minimize redundancy. |