Database management is a system of coordinating the information that supports a company’s business operations. It includes data storage, distributing it to users and application programs making changes as needed and monitoring changes to the data and preventing it from being damaged by unexpected failures. It is a part of the overall informational infrastructure of a company that assists in decision making, corporate growth, and compliance with laws such as the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM along with others created the first database systems. They evolved into information management systems (IMS) which allowed for the storage and retrieve massive amounts of data for a wide range of applications, from the calculation of inventory to supporting complicated human resources and financial accounting functions art-vert.fr.
A database is a collection of tables that store data according to an established pattern, such as one-to many relationships. It makes use of primary keys to identify records and permit cross-references between tables. Each table contains a set of attributes or fields that provide information about data entities. Relational models, developed by E. F. “Ted” Codd in the 1970s at IBM as a database, are the most used database type in the present. This model is based on normalizing data to make it more user-friendly. It is also easier to update data since it does not require the changing of many sections of the databases.
Most DBMSs support multiple types of databases by offering different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with costs, scalability, and other operational concerns like the layout of the database’s physical storage. The external level is the way the database is represented in user interfaces and other applications. It may include a mix of different external views (based on different data models) and can also include virtual tables that are created from data that is generic to enhance performance.