What is a Relational Database?
Introduction
For thousands of years, man has recognized the need to retain information for recollection and manipulation at a later date. Increasing societal and environmental demands on information science has seen it transform from simple information recall, to analyzing dynamic multi-faceted complex situations, and even predictions of future events based on current and past events. Consequently, the tools to meet these needs have undergone similar radical changes as they have evolved from stone tablets, to papyrus, to books, to libraries, and eventually computerized storage systems. Of these information tools, the relational database stands as a unique and important landmark that has allowed information to be analyzed as never before, but what is it really?
Brith and Evolution of the Relational Database Understanding the significance of the relational database requires understanding its predecessors. As computers grew beyond elaborate computational exhibitions, developers began to realize a computer could store data in a structured fashion using a …show more content…
Previous data models needed to repeat large quantities of data in separate files in order for each file to properly function. However, it became quickly apparent this exorbitant amount of repetition made data updating difficult, error prone, diminished data quality, and caused poor performance of the systems (DiScala & Abadi, 2016). Relational databases, though, could minimize repetition by grouping data in terms of a physical entity in separate tables that could be linked. Each row in a table could be uniquely identified by an attribute or combination of attributes called a primary key. This primary key could then be placed in another entity, or table, and thereby link them together. While there is some data repetition still present, it is greatly
Introduction
For thousands of years, man has recognized the need to retain information for recollection and manipulation at a later date. Increasing societal and environmental demands on information science has seen it transform from simple information recall, to analyzing dynamic multi-faceted complex situations, and even predictions of future events based on current and past events. Consequently, the tools to meet these needs have undergone similar radical changes as they have evolved from stone tablets, to papyrus, to books, to libraries, and eventually computerized storage systems. Of these information tools, the relational database stands as a unique and important landmark that has allowed information to be analyzed as never before, but what is it really?
Brith and Evolution of the Relational Database Understanding the significance of the relational database requires understanding its predecessors. As computers grew beyond elaborate computational exhibitions, developers began to realize a computer could store data in a structured fashion using a …show more content…
Previous data models needed to repeat large quantities of data in separate files in order for each file to properly function. However, it became quickly apparent this exorbitant amount of repetition made data updating difficult, error prone, diminished data quality, and caused poor performance of the systems (DiScala & Abadi, 2016). Relational databases, though, could minimize repetition by grouping data in terms of a physical entity in separate tables that could be linked. Each row in a table could be uniquely identified by an attribute or combination of attributes called a primary key. This primary key could then be placed in another entity, or table, and thereby link them together. While there is some data repetition still present, it is greatly