What Is A Database? – How Its Work And Its Types

Database

A database refers to a set of information belonging to the same context, systematically arranged for later retrieval, analysis, and transmission. There are many forms of databases today, ranging from a library to the extensive user records of a telecommunications company.

The databases are the product of the human need to store information, i.e., to protect it against time and decay to access it later. In this sense, the advent of electronics and computers, thanks to their conversion into electrical or magnetic signals, provided the indispensable digital element for storing large amounts of data in a limited space.

The databases are administered via management systems (called DBMS in English: Database Management Systems or Database Management Systems), currently digital and automated, which enable orderly storage and fast data retrieval. . Information. The fundamental principle of computing lies in this technology.

Various models and paradigms can be used to create a database, each with characteristics and advantages.

And difficulties that highlight its organizational structure, hierarchy, transferability or relational ability. It is a database model and enables the design and implementation of algorithms and other logical management mechanisms, depending on the individual case.

Database types

There are different classifications of databases according to specific characteristics:

According to its variability

According to the data recovery and preservation processes, we can talk about the following:

Static databases

Typical business intelligence and other areas of historical analysis  read-only databases from which information can extract but does not exist.

Dynamic databases

In addition to basic query operations, these databases handle updating, reorganizing, adding, and removing information.

According to its content

Depending on the type of information contained, this can be:

Bibliographic

They contain many reading materials (books, magazines, etc.), sorted according to essential information such as author, publisher, year of publication, subject area or book title, and much more.

Text ready

They are treated with historical or documentary texts, which must be preserved at all levels and are considered primary sources.

Directories

For example, corporate services have extensive lists of sponsorships with vast lists of custom data or email addresses, phone numbers, etc.

Specialized

Databases of hyper-specialized or technical information based on the specific needs of a particular audience that will consume that information.

Database examples

Some possible examples of databases throughout history are:

Telephone books

Although these voluminous books were no longer in use, they used to contain thousands of phone numbers assigned to homes, businesses, and individuals so that the user could find the one they wanted. They were cumbersome, heavy, but complete.

Personal files

The life documents of an author, researcher, or intellectual are often keep in an archive base on the preservation and reproduction of the originals.

And also, It enables them to view without endangering the original document.

Public libraries

The perfect example of databases as they contain thousands or hundreds of thousands of records about each book title.

It is available either in space or in circulation, and multiple copies of which may be in the depot. Librarians are responsible for designing and operating these systems.

Transaction records

Operations performed with a credit card and cell phone calls or other daily commercial transactions generate a series of documents submitted to a corporate database.

Medical history

Every time we visit a doctor or hospital, the information about our state of health, the treatment received, and other medical details update in a file in which our medical history is recorded.

In case it is necessary to know specific data in the future, e.g., receiving operations or treatments.