Database

Throughout the passage of time, all of history the human being has written all the events and moments that the world has seen and lived, all this not only refers to history, but also includes the arts, philosophies, inventions and economic developments contemplating its negotiations, exchanges and laws among other things. For this, throughout the world, each country has stored information from the beginning in places such as museums and libraries, currently in digital archives; this is called a database.

Definition

The databases are a compendium of information that encompasses the entire same context, which are stored in a systematic way to be used later or by the user through a computer.

These can include not only information for readings but they can also contain numerical files and multimedia content such as images or videos.

Characteristics of a database

• It allows the human being to access different sources of information in an organized way.
• In the area of ​​business and companies, it allows the human resources area to have available all the information regarding its personnel and their changes within it.
• In the area of ​​science, it allows scientists and researchers to access field tests and experiments as well as theoretical information.
• It allows citizens to search for contact information about other people and companies.

Elements

A database is mainly made up of three elements:

• A field which represents the single piece of information.
• A record Which represents a complete system of the information field.
• A file It is the compendium of information and file that makes up the database.

What is a database for?

The databases allow us to store and verify records, data and files referring to areas such as sales operations, creation processes, product catalogs, warehouses and inventories, field tests, customer profiles, among many more informative data that can be stored.

In general, in order to handle all this information, file managers are used which allow the user the ability to control and manage their reads and writes, specifying the creation of reports and usage analysis.

These are usually used mostly in companies for internal management and the organization of staff and inventory, reducing the paperwork tedious it means to organize information manually ( so physically through paper files, assuming large expenditures on stationery ).

At the same time, it is also widely used within the scientific area where databases store information from the different experiments that are carried out in order to reduce the margins of error in subsequent experiments.

Source

Although when we talk about a database the term is directly associated with the computer area , its origin is found in the first Egyptian civilizations and ancient Rome and Greece.

Egyptian narrated their stories through paintings on the walls of the palaces in order that future generations knew the h i storias of their ancestors.

In Rome and Greece there were scribes who were responsible not only for writing the history of their nations, but also for keeping a trade record of transactions between the kings and also between the merchants of their peoples.

History

The first databases that we can find were the files collected in Italy that were gradually stored forming the first libraries where the philosophers, inventors and historians went to study the histories and progress of past peoples.

With the passage of time the world began to realize that the databases were getting bigger and bigger so it was very difficult to contain all that information, in turn companies had to have areas exclusively determined to the data files of said companies .

For this reason, with the progress of the first computers, engineers, before discussing the issues of color gamut or issues of versatility, set themselves the utilitarian objective of storing information on a large scale within computers, to replace the creation of large rudimentary files. This is how the first storage disks were created and also those for portable storage (cassette and floppy ).

How a database works

• All the information that you want to store is gathered.
• It is grouped systematically in order to maintain a correct distribution for easy access.
• The information is stored inside a processor (a computer) so that it has the information at the moment it is needed.

Types

The different types of databases are classified according to each context that they include:

• The former are classified according to their variability with respect to the database:
  • Static databases: These are those databases that are made up only of reading data, these are used primarily to store historical data, which are used to study the behavior and evolution of data, such as data. that are used in companies or companies to study evolution.
  • The dynamic type databases: make up the databases that store information and with the passage of time it is modified for operations such as data updates or editions of the same. The most common databases of this type are those used in the supermarket, which are under constant review.
• The second classification is according to its content that is stored in it:
  • Bibliographic databases: They only store surrogate type information from the primary source, allowing it to be located easily. The easiest way to explain this is that it refers to all the information of the authors regarding their works ( Date of publication, edition, editorial, among others ), together with a summary or small extracts of the works.
  • The full-text information bases: These are the most common to see because they store the primary sources of data such as all the editions of a newspaper or a collection of magazines . The full text bases are usually separated into two parts: personal or business where it is given the name of white pages and yellow pages.
• There are three types of business directories :
  • They contain the name and address of the company.
  • They include contact information like your phone number and email.
  • It contains information for internal use such as your billing, payroll and your national codes.
• The databases of chemical or biological information (Libraries): They are nothing more than the bases where information related to life sciences, medicine or chemistry is stored and this is separated into several subtypes:
  • The bases that store protein or nucleotide sequences.
  • The databases that have the information on the metabolic pathways.
  • Databases where 3D structures of biomolecules are stored together with data from field experiences.
  • Databases of medical records.
  • Bibliographic databases.

Models

There are numerous database models, some of the most prominent are:

• Hierarchical databases: in this database all the information starts from a central node which is the main topic and it is subdivided into smaller nodes which is where the information is found.
• Network databases:  this is a model similar to the hierarchical one , its difference is that not all minor nodes start from a main one, but each minor node has its largest node.
• Transaction database:  these are the least seen models and their only purpose is the rapid sending and receiving of information regarding the analyzes of a finished product.
• Relational databases:  in this model, the way in which the information is placed is not relevant, since its main objective is to allow the information to be reviewed in a simple and easy-to-understand way.
• Multidimensional databases:  this model is a system created for the development of ideas and applications, based on metric or measurement tables.
• Databases in relation to objects:  this model incorporates information on status and behavior, which is why they are mostly seen in scientific areas.
• Documented databases:  this model is based mainly on information that is stored on a large scale, mostly they are histories and antecedents of the world.
• Deductive databases:  this model allows interactions with the information within the same database in order to create inferences or opinions on the information.
• SGBD: it  is a digital system that allows the storage of information from multiple places all connected by the same network.

Importance of the database

Databases allow the world to handle large amounts of information in an easy and simple way in order to facilitate work in all areas of human development and at the same time always know all the evolutionary process that it has gone through.

Examples

• Coca-Cola’s internal production system.
• ZDC research history database.
• Database Management System.
• Customer-product analysis system, SONY.