Introduction to Databases (NVC) Home

Welcome to Introduction to Databases

Data is numeric, textual, visual, or audio information that describes real-world systems. Data is collected and processed to aid in various tasks, such as forecasting weather, analyzing financial investments, and tracking the global spread of pandemics.

A database is a collection of data in a structured format. In principle, databases can be stored on paper or even clay tablets. In practice, however, modern databases are invariably stored on computers. The database structure ensures that similar data is stored in a standardized manner.

A database system, also known as a database management system or DBMS, is software that reads and writes data in a database. Database systems ensure data is secure, internally consistent, and always available. These functions are challenging for large databases with many users, so database systems are complex.