Database

In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of

data store based on the use of a database management system
(DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the
database itself to capture and analyze the data. The DBMS additionally
encompasses the core facilities provided to administer the database. The
sum total of the database, the DBMS and the associated applications can
be referred to as a database system. Often the term "database" is also
used loosely to refer to any of the DBMS, the database system or an
application associated with the database.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 1 of 109
:
 An SQL select statement and its result

Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are
hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases
spans formal techniques and practical considerations, including data
modeling, efficient data representation and storage, query languages,
security and privacy of sensitive data, and distributed computing issues,
including supporting concurrent access and fault tolerance.

Computer scientists may classify database management systems

according to the database models that they support. Relational databases
became dominant in the 1980s. These model data as rows and columns in
a series of tables, and the vast majority use SQL for writing and querying
data. In the 2000s, non-relational databases became popular, collectively
referred to as NoSQL, because they use different query languages.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 2 of 109
:
 Terminology and
overview
Formally, a "database" refers to a set of related data accessed through the
use of a "database management system" (DBMS), which is an integrated
set of computer software that allows users to interact with one or more
databases and provides access to all of the data contained in the database
(although restrictions may exist that limit access to particular data). The
DBMS provides various functions that allow entry, storage and retrieval of
large quantities of information and provides ways to manage how that
information is organized.

Because of the close relationship between them, the term "database" is

often used casually to refer to both a database and the DBMS used to
manipulate it.

Outside the world of professional information technology, the term

database is often used to refer to any collection of related data (such as a
spreadsheet or a card index) as size and usage requirements typically
necessitate use of a database management system.[1]

Existing DBMSs provide various functions that allow management of a

database and its data which can be classified into four main functional
groups:

Data definition – Creation,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 3 of 109
:
 modification and removal of
definitions that detail how the
data is to be organized.
Update – Insertion,
modification, and deletion of
the data itself.[2]
Retrieval – Selecting data
according to specified criteria
(e.g., a query, a position in a
hierarchy, or a position in
relation to other data) and
providing that data either

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 4 of 109
:
 directly to the user, or making it
available for further processing
by the database itself or by
other applications. The
retrieved data may be made
available in a more or less
direct form without
modification, as it is stored in
the database, or in a new form
obtained by altering it or
combining it with existing data
from the database.[3]
Administration – Registering

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 5 of 109
:
 and monitoring users,
enforcing data security,
monitoring performance,
maintaining data integrity,
dealing with concurrency
control, and recovering
information that has been
corrupted by some event such
as an unexpected system
failure.[4]
Both a database and its DBMS conform to the principles of a particular
database model.[5] "Database system" refers collectively to the database
model, database management system, and database.[6]

Physically, database servers are dedicated computers that hold the actual
databases and run only the DBMS and related software. Database servers
are usually multiprocessor computers, with generous memory and RAID
disk arrays used for stable storage. Hardware database accelerators,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 6 of 109
:
 connected to one or more servers via a high-speed channel, are also used
in large-volume transaction processing environments. DBMSs are found at
the heart of most database applications. DBMSs may be built around a
custom multitasking kernel with built-in networking support, but modern
DBMSs typically rely on a standard operating system to provide these
functions.

Since DBMSs comprise a significant market, computer and storage

vendors often take into account DBMS requirements in their own
development plans.[7]

Databases and DBMSs can be categorized according to the database

model(s) that they support (such as relational or XML), the type(s) of
computer they run on (from a server cluster to a mobile phone), the query
language(s) used to access the database (such as SQL or XQuery), and
their internal engineering, which affects performance, scalability,
resilience, and security.

History
The sizes, capabilities, and performance of databases and their respective
DBMSs have grown in orders of magnitude. These performance increases
were enabled by the technology progress in the areas of processors,
computer memory, computer storage, and computer networks. The
concept of a database was made possible by the emergence of direct
access storage media such as magnetic disks, which became widely
available in the mid-1960s; earlier systems relied on sequential storage of
data on magnetic tape. The subsequent development of database
technology can be divided into three eras based on data model or
structure: navigational,[8] SQL/relational, and post-relational.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 7 of 109
:
 The two main early navigational data models were the hierarchical model
and the CODASYL model (network model). These were characterized by
the use of pointers (often physical disk addresses) to follow relationships
from one record to another.

The relational model, first proposed in 1970 by Edgar F. Codd, departed

from this tradition by insisting that applications should search for data by
content, rather than by following links. The relational model employs sets
of ledger-style tables, each used for a different type of entity. Only in the
mid-1980s did computing hardware become powerful enough to allow the
wide deployment of relational systems (DBMSs plus applications). By the
early 1990s, however, relational systems dominated in all large-scale data
processing applications, and as of 2018 they remain dominant: IBM Db2,
Oracle, MySQL, and Microsoft SQL Server are the most searched DBMS.[9]
The dominant database language, standardized SQL for the relational
model, has influenced database languages for other data models.

Object databases were developed in the 1980s to overcome the

inconvenience of object–relational impedance mismatch, which led to the
coining of the term "post-relational" and also the development of hybrid
object–relational databases.

The next generation of post-relational databases in the late 2000s became

known as NoSQL databases, introducing fast key–value stores and
document-oriented databases. A competing "next generation" known as
NewSQL databases attempted new implementations that retained the
relational/SQL model while aiming to match the high performance of
NoSQL compared to commercially available relational DBMSs.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 8 of 109
:
 1960s, navigational DBMS

Basic structure of navigational CODASYL

database model

The introduction of the term database coincided with the availability of

direct-access storage (disks and drums) from the mid-1960s onwards.
The term represented a contrast with the tape-based systems of the past,
allowing shared interactive use rather than daily batch processing. The
Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1962 report by the System Development
Corporation of California as the first to use the term "data-base" in a
specific technical sense.[10]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 9 of 109
:
 As computers grew in speed and capability, a number of general-purpose
database systems emerged; by the mid-1960s a number of such systems
had come into commercial use. Interest in a standard began to grow, and
Charles Bachman, author of one such product, the Integrated Data Store
(IDS), founded the Database Task Group within CODASYL, the group
responsible for the creation and standardization of COBOL. In 1971, the
Database Task Group delivered their standard, which generally became
known as the CODASYL approach, and soon a number of commercial
products based on this approach entered the market.

The CODASYL approach offered applications the ability to navigate around

a linked data set which was formed into a large network. Applications
could find records by one of three methods:

1. Use of a primary key

(known as a CALC key,
typically implemented by
hashing)
2. Navigating relationships
(called sets) from one
record to another

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 10 of 109
:
 3. Scanning all the records in a
sequential order
Later systems added B-trees to provide alternate access paths. Many
CODASYL databases also added a declarative query language for end
users (as distinct from the navigational API). However, CODASYL
databases were complex and required significant training and effort to
produce useful applications.

IBM also had its own DBMS in 1966, known as Information Management
System (IMS). IMS was a development of software written for the Apollo
program on the System/360. IMS was generally similar in concept to
CODASYL, but used a strict hierarchy for its model of data navigation
instead of CODASYL's network model. Both concepts later became known
as navigational databases due to the way data was accessed: the term
was popularized by Bachman's 1973 Turing Award presentation The
Programmer as Navigator. IMS is classified by IBM as a hierarchical
database. IDMS and Cincom Systems' TOTAL databases are classified as
network databases. IMS remains in use as of 2014.[11]

1970s, relational DBMS

Edgar F. Codd worked at IBM in San Jose, California, in one of their
offshoot offices that were primarily involved in the development of hard
disk systems. He was unhappy with the navigational model of the
CODASYL approach, notably the lack of a "search" facility. In 1970, he

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 11 of 109
:
 wrote a number of papers that outlined a new approach to database
construction that eventually culminated in the groundbreaking A Relational
Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks.[12]

In this paper, he described a new system for storing and working with large
databases. Instead of records being stored in some sort of linked list of
free-form records as in CODASYL, Codd's idea was to organize the data as
a number of "tables", each table being used for a different type of entity.
Each table would contain a fixed number of columns containing the
attributes of the entity. One or more columns of each table were
designated as a primary key by which the rows of the table could be
uniquely identified; cross-references between tables always used these
primary keys, rather than disk addresses, and queries would join tables
based on these key relationships, using a set of operations based on the
mathematical system of relational calculus (from which the model takes its
name). Splitting the data into a set of normalized tables (or relations)
aimed to ensure that each "fact" was only stored once, thus simplifying
update operations. Virtual tables called views could present the data in
different ways for different users, but views could not be directly updated.

Codd used mathematical terms to define the model: relations, tuples, and
domains rather than tables, rows, and columns. The terminology that is
now familiar came from early implementations. Codd would later criticize
the tendency for practical implementations to depart from the
mathematical foundations on which the model was based.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 12 of 109
:
 In the relational model, records are
"linked" using virtual keys not stored
in the database but defined as
needed between the data contained in
the records.

The use of primary keys (user-oriented identifiers) to represent cross-

table relationships, rather than disk addresses, had two primary
motivations. From an engineering perspective, it enabled tables to be
relocated and resized without expensive database reorganization. But
Codd was more interested in the difference in semantics: the use of
explicit identifiers made it easier to define update operations with clean
mathematical definitions, and it also enabled query operations to be
defined in terms of the established discipline of first-order predicate
calculus; because these operations have clean mathematical properties, it
becomes possible to rewrite queries in provably correct ways, which is the
basis of query optimization. There is no loss of expressiveness compared
with the hierarchic or network models, though the connections between
tables are no longer so explicit.

In the hierarchic and network models, records were allowed to have a

complex internal structure. For example, the salary history of an employee
might be represented as a "repeating group" within the employee record.
In the relational model, the process of normalization led to such internal
structures being replaced by data held in multiple tables, connected only
by logical keys.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 13 of 109
:
 For instance, a common use of a database system is to track information
about users, their name, login information, various addresses and phone
numbers. In the navigational approach, all of this data would be placed in a
single variable-length record. In the relational approach, the data would be
normalized into a user table, an address table and a phone number table
(for instance). Records would be created in these optional tables only if
the address or phone numbers were actually provided.

As well as identifying rows/records using logical identifiers rather than disk

addresses, Codd changed the way in which applications assembled data
from multiple records. Rather than requiring applications to gather data
one record at a time by navigating the links, they would use a declarative
query language that expressed what data was required, rather than the
access path by which it should be found. Finding an efficient access path
to the data became the responsibility of the database management
system, rather than the application programmer. This process, called
query optimization, depended on the fact that queries were expressed in
terms of mathematical logic.

Codd's paper was picked up by two people at Berkeley, Eugene Wong and
Michael Stonebraker. They started a project known as INGRES using
funding that had already been allocated for a geographical database
project and student programmers to produce code. Beginning in 1973,
INGRES delivered its first test products which were generally ready for
widespread use in 1979. INGRES was similar to System R in a number of
ways, including the use of a "language" for data access, known as QUEL.
Over time, INGRES moved to the emerging SQL standard.

IBM itself did one test implementation of the relational model, PRTV, and a
production one, Business System 12, both now discontinued. Honeywell
wrote MRDS for Multics, and now there are two new implementations:
Alphora Dataphor and Rel. Most other DBMS implementations usually
called relational are actually SQL DBMSs.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 14 of 109
:
 In 1970, the University of Michigan began development of the MICRO
Information Management System[13] based on D.L. Childs' Set-Theoretic
Data model.[14][15][16] MICRO was used to manage very large data sets by
the US Department of Labor, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
and researchers from the University of Alberta, the University of Michigan,
and Wayne State University. It ran on IBM mainframe computers using the
Michigan Terminal System.[17] The system remained in production until
1998.

Integrated approach
In the 1970s and 1980s, attempts were made to build database systems
with integrated hardware and software. The underlying philosophy was
that such integration would provide higher performance at a lower cost.
Examples were IBM System/38, the early offering of Teradata, and the
Britton Lee, Inc. database machine.

Another approach to hardware support for database management was

ICL's CAFS accelerator, a hardware disk controller with programmable
search capabilities. In the long term, these efforts were generally
unsuccessful because specialized database machines could not keep
pace with the rapid development and progress of general-purpose
computers. Thus most database systems nowadays are software systems
running on general-purpose hardware, using general-purpose computer
data storage. However, this idea is still pursued in certain applications by
some companies like Netezza and Oracle (Exadata).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 15 of 109
:
 Late 1970s, SQL DBMS
IBM started working on a prototype system loosely based on Codd's
concepts as System R in the early 1970s. The first version was ready in
1974/5, and work then started on multi-table systems in which the data
could be split so that all of the data for a record (some of which is
optional) did not have to be stored in a single large "chunk". Subsequent
multi-user versions were tested by customers in 1978 and 1979, by which
time a standardized query language – SQL – had been added. Codd's
ideas were establishing themselves as both workable and superior to
CODASYL, pushing IBM to develop a true production version of System R,
known as SQL/DS, and, later, Database 2 (IBM Db2).

Larry Ellison's Oracle Database (or more simply, Oracle) started from a
different chain, based on IBM's papers on System R. Though Oracle V1
implementations were completed in 1978, it was not until Oracle Version 2
when Ellison beat IBM to market in 1979.[18]

Stonebraker went on to apply the lessons from INGRES to develop a new

database, Postgres, which is now known as PostgreSQL. PostgreSQL is
often used for global mission-critical applications (the .org and .info
domain name registries use it as their primary data store, as do many large
companies and financial institutions).

In Sweden, Codd's paper was also read and Mimer SQL was developed in
the mid-1970s at Uppsala University. In 1984, this project was
consolidated into an independent enterprise.

Another data model, the entity–relationship model, emerged in 1976 and

gained popularity for database design as it emphasized a more familiar
description than the earlier relational model. Later on, entity–relationship

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 16 of 109
:
 constructs were retrofitted as a data modeling construct for the relational
model, and the difference between the two has become irrelevant.

1980s, on the desktop

The 1980s ushered in the age of desktop computing. The new computers
empowered their users with spreadsheets like Lotus 1-2-3 and database
software like dBASE. The dBASE product was lightweight and easy for any
computer user to understand out of the box. C. Wayne Ratliff, the creator
of dBASE, stated: "dBASE was different from programs like BASIC, C,
FORTRAN, and COBOL in that a lot of the dirty work had already been
done. The data manipulation is done by dBASE instead of by the user, so
the user can concentrate on what he is doing, rather than having to mess
with the dirty details of opening, reading, and closing files, and managing
space allocation."[19] dBASE was one of the top selling software titles in
the 1980s and early 1990s.

1990s, object-oriented
The 1990s, along with a rise in object-oriented programming, saw a
growth in how data in various databases were handled. Programmers and
designers began to treat the data in their databases as objects. That is to
say that if a person's data were in a database, that person's attributes,
such as their address, phone number, and age, were now considered to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 17 of 109
:
 belong to that person instead of being extraneous data. This allows for
relations between data to be related to objects and their attributes and not
to individual fields.[20] The term "object–relational impedance mismatch"
described the inconvenience of translating between programmed objects
and database tables. Object databases and object–relational databases
attempt to solve this problem by providing an object-oriented language
(sometimes as extensions to SQL) that programmers can use as
alternative to purely relational SQL. On the programming side, libraries
known as object–relational mappings (ORMs) attempt to solve the same
problem.

2000s, NoSQL and

NewSQL
XML databases are a type of structured document-oriented database that
allows querying based on XML document attributes. XML databases are
mostly used in applications where the data is conveniently viewed as a
collection of documents, with a structure that can vary from the very
flexible to the highly rigid: examples include scientific articles, patents, tax
filings, and personnel records.

NoSQL databases are often very fast, do not require fixed table schemas,
avoid join operations by storing denormalized data, and are designed to
scale horizontally.

In recent years, there has been a strong demand for massively distributed
databases with high partition tolerance, but according to the CAP theorem,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 18 of 109
:
 it is impossible for a distributed system to simultaneously provide
consistency, availability, and partition tolerance guarantees. A distributed
system can satisfy any two of these guarantees at the same time, but not
all three. For that reason, many NoSQL databases are using what is called
eventual consistency to provide both availability and partition tolerance
guarantees with a reduced level of data consistency.

NewSQL is a class of modern relational databases that aims to provide the

same scalable performance of NoSQL systems for online transaction
processing (read-write) workloads while still using SQL and maintaining
the ACID guarantees of a traditional database system.

Use cases
Databases are used to support internal operations of organizations and to
underpin online interactions with customers and suppliers (see Enterprise
software).

Databases are used to hold administrative information and more

specialized data, such as engineering data or economic models. Examples
include computerized library systems, flight reservation systems,
computerized parts inventory systems, and many content management
systems that store websites as collections of webpages in a database.

Classification
One way to classify databases involves the type of their contents, for

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 19 of 109
:
 example: bibliographic, document-text, statistical, or multimedia objects.
Another way is by their application area, for example: accounting, music
compositions, movies, banking, manufacturing, or insurance. A third way is
by some technical aspect, such as the database structure or interface
type. This section lists a few of the adjectives used to characterize
different kinds of databases.

An in-memory database is a
database that primarily resides
in main memory, but is
typically backed-up by non-
volatile computer data storage.
Main memory databases are
faster than disk databases, and
so are often used where
response time is critical, such
as in telecommunications

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 20 of 109
:
 network equipment.
An active database includes an
event-driven architecture
which can respond to
conditions both inside and
outside the database. Possible
uses include security
monitoring, alerting, statistics
gathering and authorization.
Many databases provide active
database features in the form
of database triggers.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 21 of 109
:
 A cloud database relies on
cloud technology. Both the
database and most of its
DBMS reside remotely, "in the
cloud", while its applications
are both developed by
programmers and later
maintained and used by end-
users through a web browser
and Open APIs.
Data warehouses archive data
from operational databases
and often from external

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 22 of 109
:
 sources such as market
research firms. The warehouse
becomes the central source of
data for use by managers and
other end-users who may not
have access to operational
data. For example, sales data
might be aggregated to weekly
totals and converted from
internal product codes to use
UPCs so that they can be
compared with ACNielsen
data. Some basic and essential

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 23 of 109
:
 components of data
warehousing include
extracting, analyzing, and
mining data, transforming,
loading, and managing data so
as to make them available for
further use.
A deductive database
combines logic programming
with a relational database.
A distributed database is one
in which both the data and the

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 24 of 109
:
 DBMS span multiple
computers.
A document-oriented
database is designed for
storing, retrieving, and
managing document-oriented,
or semi structured, information.
Document-oriented databases
are one of the main categories
of NoSQL databases.
An embedded database
system is a DBMS which is

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 25 of 109
:
 tightly integrated with an
application software that
requires access to stored data
in such a way that the DBMS is
hidden from the application's
end-users and requires little or
no ongoing maintenance.[21]
End-user databases consist of
data developed by individual
end-users. Examples of these
are collections of documents,
spreadsheets, presentations,
multimedia, and other files.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 26 of 109
:
 Several products exist to
support such databases.
A federated database system
comprises several distinct
databases, each with its own
DBMS. It is handled as a single
database by a federated
database management system
(FDBMS), which transparently
integrates multiple
autonomous DBMSs, possibly
of different types (in which
case it would also be a

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 27 of 109
:
 heterogeneous database
system), and provides them
with an integrated conceptual
view.
Sometimes the term multi-
database is used as a
synonym for federated
database, though it may refer
to a less integrated (e.g.,
without an FDBMS and a
managed integrated schema)
group of databases that
cooperate in a single

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 28 of 109
:
 application. In this case,
typically middleware is used
for distribution, which typically
includes an atomic commit
protocol (ACP), e.g., the two-
phase commit protocol, to
allow distributed (global)
transactions across the
participating databases.
A graph database is a kind of
NoSQL database that uses
graph structures with nodes,
edges, and properties to

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 29 of 109
:
 represent and store
information. General graph
databases that can store any
graph are distinct from
specialized graph databases
such as triplestores and
network databases.
An array DBMS is a kind of
NoSQL DBMS that allows
modeling, storage, and retrieval
of (usually large) multi-
dimensional arrays such as
satellite images and climate

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 30 of 109
:
 simulation output.
In a hypertext or hypermedia
database, any word or a piece
of text representing an object,
e.g., another piece of text, an
article, a picture, or a film, can
be hyperlinked to that object.
Hypertext databases are
particularly useful for
organizing large amounts of
disparate information. For
example, they are useful for
organizing online

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 31 of 109
:
 encyclopedias, where users
can conveniently jump around
the text. The World Wide Web
is thus a large distributed
hypertext database.
A knowledge base
(abbreviated KB, kb or Δ[22]
[23]) is a special kind of
database for knowledge
management, providing the
means for the computerized
collection, organization, and
retrieval of knowledge. Also a

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 32 of 109
:
 collection of data representing
problems with their solutions
and related experiences.
A mobile database can be
carried on or synchronized
from a mobile computing
device.
Operational databases store
detailed data about the
operations of an organization.
They typically process
relatively high volumes of
updates using transactions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 33 of 109
:
 Examples include customer
databases that record contact,
credit, and demographic
information about a business's
customers, personnel
databases that hold
information such as salary,
benefits, skills data about
employees, enterprise
resource planning systems
that record details about
product components, parts
inventory, and financial

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 34 of 109
:
 databases that keep track of
the organization's money,
accounting and financial
dealings.
A parallel database seeks to
improve performance through
parallelization for tasks such as
loading data, building indexes
and evaluating queries.
The major parallel DBMS
architectures which are
induced by the underlying
hardware architecture are:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 35 of 109
:
 Shared memory
architecture, where
multiple processors share
the main memory space,
as well as other data
storage.
Shared disk
architecture, where each
processing unit (typically
consisting of multiple
processors) has its own
main memory, but all units
share the other storage.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 36 of 109
:
 Shared-nothing
architecture, where each
processing unit has its
own main memory and
other storage.

Probabilistic databases
employ fuzzy logic to draw
inferences from imprecise
data.
Real-time databases process
transactions fast enough for
the result to come back and be

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 37 of 109
:
 acted on right away.
A spatial database can store
the data with multidimensional
features. The queries on such
data include location-based
queries, like "Where is the
closest hotel in my area?".
A temporal database has built-
in time aspects, for example a
temporal data model and a
temporal version of SQL. More
specifically the temporal

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 38 of 109
:
 aspects usually include valid-
time and transaction-time.
A terminology-oriented
database builds upon an
object-oriented database,
often customized for a specific
field.
An unstructured data database
is intended to store in a
manageable and protected
way diverse objects that do not
fit naturally and conveniently in

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 39 of 109
:
 common databases. It may
include email messages,
documents, journals,
multimedia objects, etc. The
name may be misleading since
some objects can be highly
structured. However, the entire
possible object collection does
not fit into a predefined
structured framework. Most
established DBMSs now
support unstructured data in
various ways, and new

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 40 of 109
:
 dedicated DBMSs are
emerging.

Database management
system
Connolly and Begg define database management system (DBMS) as a
"software system that enables users to define, create, maintain and
control access to the database."[24] Examples of DBMS's include MySQL,
MariaDB, PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, and
Microsoft Access.

The DBMS acronym is sometimes extended to indicate the underlying

database model, with RDBMS for the relational, OODBMS for the object
(oriented) and ORDBMS for the object–relational model. Other extensions
can indicate some other characteristics, such as DDBMS for a distributed
database management systems.

The functionality provided by a DBMS can vary enormously. The core

functionality is the storage, retrieval and update of data. Codd proposed
the following functions and services a fully-fledged general purpose DBMS
should provide:[25]

Data storage, retrieval and

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 41 of 109
:
 update
User accessible catalog or
data dictionary describing the
metadata
Support for transactions and
concurrency
Facilities for recovering the
database should it become
damaged
Support for authorization of
access and update of data
Access support from remote

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 42 of 109
:
 locations
Enforcing constraints to ensure
data in the database abides by
certain rules
It is also generally to be expected the DBMS will provide a set of utilities
for such purposes as may be necessary to administer the database
effectively, including import, export, monitoring, defragmentation and
analysis utilities.[26] The core part of the DBMS interacting between the
database and the application interface sometimes referred to as the
database engine.

Often DBMSs will have configuration parameters that can be statically and
dynamically tuned, for example the maximum amount of main memory on
a server the database can use. The trend is to minimize the amount of
manual configuration, and for cases such as embedded databases the
need to target zero-administration is paramount.

The large major enterprise DBMSs have tended to increase in size and
functionality and have involved up to thousands of human years of
development effort throughout their lifetime.[a]

Early multi-user DBMS typically only allowed for the application to reside
on the same computer with access via terminals or terminal emulation
software. The client–server architecture was a development where the
application resided on a client desktop and the database on a server
allowing the processing to be distributed. This evolved into a multitier
architecture incorporating application servers and web servers with the

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 43 of 109
:
 end user interface via a web browser with the database only directly
connected to the adjacent tier.[28]

A general-purpose DBMS will provide public application programming

interfaces (API) and optionally a processor for database languages such as
SQL to allow applications to be written to interact with and manipulate the
database. A special purpose DBMS may use a private API and be
specifically customized and linked to a single application. For example, an
email system performs many of the functions of a general-purpose DBMS
such as message insertion, message deletion, attachment handling,
blocklist lookup, associating messages an email address and so forth
however these functions are limited to what is required to handle email.

Application
External interaction with the database will be via an application program
that interfaces with the DBMS.[29] This can range from a database tool
that allows users to execute SQL queries textually or graphically, to a
website that happens to use a database to store and search information.

Application program
interface
A programmer will code interactions to the database (sometimes referred

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 44 of 109
:
 to as a datasource) via an application program interface (API) or via a
database language. The particular API or language chosen will need to be
supported by DBMS, possibly indirectly via a preprocessor or a bridging
API. Some API's aim to be database independent, ODBC being a
commonly known example. Other common API's include JDBC and
ADO.NET.

Database languages
Database languages are special-purpose languages, which allow one or
more of the following tasks, sometimes distinguished as sublanguages:

Data control language (DCL) –

controls access to data;
Data definition language (DDL)
– defines data types such as
creating, altering, or dropping
tables and the relationships
among them;

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 45 of 109
:
 Data manipulation language
(DML) – performs tasks such
as inserting, updating, or
deleting data occurrences;
Data query language (DQL) –
allows searching for
information and computing
derived information.
Database languages are specific to a particular data model. Notable
examples include:

SQL combines the roles of

data definition, data
manipulation, and query in a
single language. It was one of

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 46 of 109
:
 the first commercial languages
for the relational model,
although it departs in some
respects from the relational
model as described by Codd
(for example, the rows and
columns of a table can be
ordered). SQL became a
standard of the American
National Standards Institute
(ANSI) in 1986, and of the
International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in 1987.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 47 of 109
:
 The standards have been
regularly enhanced since and
are supported (with varying
degrees of conformance) by all
mainstream commercial
relational DBMSs.[30][31]
OQL is an object model
language standard (from the
Object Data Management
Group). It has influenced the
design of some of the newer
query languages like JDOQL
and EJB QL.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 48 of 109
:
 XQuery is a standard XML
query language implemented
by XML database systems
such as MarkLogic and eXist,
by relational databases with
XML capability such as Oracle
and Db2, and also by in-
memory XML processors such
as Saxon.
SQL/XML combines XQuery
with SQL.[32]
A database language may also incorporate features like:

DBMS-specific configuration

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 49 of 109
:
 and storage engine
management
Computations to modify query
results, like counting, summing,
averaging, sorting, grouping,
and cross-referencing
Constraint enforcement (e.g. in
an automotive database, only
allowing one engine type per
car)
Application programming
interface version of the query

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 50 of 109
:
 language, for programmer
convenience

Storage
Database storage is the container of the physical materialization of a
database. It comprises the internal (physical) level in the database
architecture. It also contains all the information needed (e.g., metadata,
"data about the data", and internal data structures) to reconstruct the
conceptual level and external level from the internal level when needed.
Databases as digital objects contain three layers of information which
must be stored: the data, the structure, and the semantics. Proper storage
of all three layers is needed for future preservation and longevity of the
database.[33] Putting data into permanent storage is generally the
responsibility of the database engine a.k.a. "storage engine". Though
typically accessed by a DBMS through the underlying operating system
(and often using the operating systems' file systems as intermediates for
storage layout), storage properties and configuration settings are
extremely important for the efficient operation of the DBMS, and thus are
closely maintained by database administrators. A DBMS, while in
operation, always has its database residing in several types of storage
(e.g., memory and external storage). The database data and the additional
needed information, possibly in very large amounts, are coded into bits.
Data typically reside in the storage in structures that look completely
different from the way the data look at the conceptual and external levels,
but in ways that attempt to optimize (the best possible) these levels'
reconstruction when needed by users and programs, as well as for

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 51 of 109
:
 computing additional types of needed information from the data (e.g.,
when querying the database).

Some DBMSs support specifying which character encoding was used to

store data, so multiple encodings can be used in the same database.

Various low-level database storage structures are used by the storage

engine to serialize the data model so it can be written to the medium of
choice. Techniques such as indexing may be used to improve
performance. Conventional storage is row-oriented, but there are also
column-oriented and correlation databases.

Materialized views
Often storage redundancy is employed to increase performance. A
common example is storing materialized views, which consist of frequently
needed external views or query results. Storing such views saves the
expensive computing them each time they are needed. The downsides of
materialized views are the overhead incurred when updating them to keep
them synchronized with their original updated database data, and the cost
of storage redundancy.

Replication

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 52 of 109
:
 Occasionally a database employs storage redundancy by database objects
replication (with one or more copies) to increase data availability (both to
improve performance of simultaneous multiple end-user accesses to the
same database object, and to provide resiliency in a case of partial failure
of a distributed database). Updates of a replicated object need to be
synchronized across the object copies. In many cases, the entire database
is replicated.

Virtualization
With data virtualization, the data used remains in its original locations and
real-time access is established to allow analytics across multiple sources.
This can aid in resolving some technical difficulties such as compatibility
problems when combining data from various platforms, lowering the risk of
error caused by faulty data, and guaranteeing that the newest data is
used. Furthermore, avoiding the creation of a new database containing
personal information can make it easier to comply with privacy regulations.
However, with data virtualization, the connection to all necessary data
sources must be operational as there is no local copy of the data, which is
one of the main drawbacks of the approach.[34]

Security
Database security deals with all various aspects of protecting the
database content, its owners, and its users. It ranges from protection from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 53 of 109
:
 intentional unauthorized database uses to unintentional database
accesses by unauthorized entities (e.g., a person or a computer program).

Database access control deals with controlling who (a person or a certain

computer program) are allowed to access what information in the
database. The information may comprise specific database objects (e.g.,
record types, specific records, data structures), certain computations over
certain objects (e.g., query types, or specific queries), or using specific
access paths to the former (e.g., using specific indexes or other data
structures to access information). Database access controls are set by
special authorized (by the database owner) personnel that uses dedicated
protected security DBMS interfaces.

This may be managed directly on an individual basis, or by the assignment

of individuals and privileges to groups, or (in the most elaborate models)
through the assignment of individuals and groups to roles which are then
granted entitlements. Data security prevents unauthorized users from
viewing or updating the database. Using passwords, users are allowed
access to the entire database or subsets of it called "subschemas". For
example, an employee database can contain all the data about an
individual employee, but one group of users may be authorized to view
only payroll data, while others are allowed access to only work history and
medical data. If the DBMS provides a way to interactively enter and update
the database, as well as interrogate it, this capability allows for managing
personal databases.

Data security in general deals with protecting specific chunks of data, both
physically (i.e., from corruption, or destruction, or removal; e.g., see
physical security), or the interpretation of them, or parts of them to
meaningful information (e.g., by looking at the strings of bits that they
comprise, concluding specific valid credit-card numbers; e.g., see data
encryption).

Change and access logging records who accessed which attributes, what

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 54 of 109
:
 was changed, and when it was changed. Logging services allow for a
forensic database audit later by keeping a record of access occurrences
and changes. Sometimes application-level code is used to record changes
rather than leaving this in the database. Monitoring can be set up to
attempt to detect security breaches. Therefore, organizations must take
database security seriously because of the many benefits it provides.
Organizations will be safeguarded from security breaches and hacking
activities like firewall intrusion, virus spread, and ransom ware. This helps
in protecting the company's essential information, which cannot be shared
with outsiders at any cause.[35]

Transactions and
concurrency
Database transactions can be used to introduce some level of fault
tolerance and data integrity after recovery from a crash. A database
transaction is a unit of work, typically encapsulating a number of
operations over a database (e.g., reading a database object, writing,
acquiring or releasing a lock, etc.), an abstraction supported in database
and also other systems. Each transaction has well defined boundaries in
terms of which program/code executions are included in that transaction
(determined by the transaction's programmer via special transaction
commands).

The acronym ACID describes some ideal properties of a database

transaction: atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 55 of 109
:
 Migration
A database built with one DBMS is not portable to another DBMS (i.e., the
other DBMS cannot run it). However, in some situations, it is desirable to
migrate a database from one DBMS to another. The reasons are primarily
economical (different DBMSs may have different total costs of ownership
or TCOs), functional, and operational (different DBMSs may have different
capabilities). The migration involves the database's transformation from
one DBMS type to another. The transformation should maintain (if
possible) the database related application (i.e., all related application
programs) intact. Thus, the database's conceptual and external
architectural levels should be maintained in the transformation. It may be
desired that also some aspects of the architecture internal level are
maintained. A complex or large database migration may be a complicated
and costly (one-time) project by itself, which should be factored into the
decision to migrate. This is in spite of the fact that tools may exist to help
migration between specific DBMSs. Typically, a DBMS vendor provides
tools to help import databases from other popular DBMSs.

Building, maintaining,
and tuning
After designing a database for an application, the next stage is building the
database. Typically, an appropriate general-purpose DBMS can be

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 56 of 109
:
 selected to be used for this purpose. A DBMS provides the needed user
interfaces to be used by database administrators to define the needed
application's data structures within the DBMS's respective data model.
Other user interfaces are used to select needed DBMS parameters (like
security related, storage allocation parameters, etc.).

When the database is ready (all its data structures and other needed
components are defined), it is typically populated with initial application's
data (database initialization, which is typically a distinct project; in many
cases using specialized DBMS interfaces that support bulk insertion)
before making it operational. In some cases, the database becomes
operational while empty of application data, and data are accumulated
during its operation.

After the database is created, initialized and populated it needs to be

maintained. Various database parameters may need changing and the
database may need to be tuned (tuning) for better performance;
application's data structures may be changed or added, new related
application programs may be written to add to the application's
functionality, etc.

Backup and restore

Sometimes it is desired to bring a database back to a previous state (for
many reasons, e.g., cases when the database is found corrupted due to a
software error, or if it has been updated with erroneous data). To achieve
this, a backup operation is done occasionally or continuously, where each
desired database state (i.e., the values of its data and their embedding in
database's data structures) is kept within dedicated backup files (many
techniques exist to do this effectively). When it is decided by a database

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 57 of 109
:
 administrator to bring the database back to this state (e.g., by specifying
this state by a desired point in time when the database was in this state),
these files are used to restore that state.

Static analysis
Static analysis techniques for software verification can be applied also in
the scenario of query languages. In particular, the *Abstract interpretation
framework has been extended to the field of query languages for relational
databases as a way to support sound approximation techniques.[36] The
semantics of query languages can be tuned according to suitable
abstractions of the concrete domain of data. The abstraction of relational
database systems has many interesting applications, in particular, for
security purposes, such as fine-grained access control, watermarking, etc.

Miscellaneous features
Other DBMS features might include:

Database logs – This helps in

keeping a history of the
executed functions.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 58 of 109
:
 Graphics component for
producing graphs and charts,
especially in a data warehouse
system.
Query optimizer – Performs
query optimization on every
query to choose an efficient
query plan (a partial order
(tree) of operations) to be
executed to compute the
query result. May be specific to
a particular storage engine.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 59 of 109
:
 Tools or hooks for database
design, application
programming, application
program maintenance,
database performance
analysis and monitoring,
database configuration
monitoring, DBMS hardware
configuration (a DBMS and
related database may span
computers, networks, and
storage units) and related
database mapping (especially

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 60 of 109
:
 for a distributed DBMS),
storage allocation and
database layout monitoring,
storage migration, etc.
Increasingly, there are calls for a single system that incorporates all of
these core functionalities into the same build, test, and deployment
framework for database management and source control. Borrowing from
other developments in the software industry, some market such offerings
as "DevOps for database".[37]

Design and modeling

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 61 of 109
:
 The first task of a database designer is to produce a conceptual data
model that reflects the structure of the information to be held in the
database. A common approach to this is to develop an entity–relationship
model, often with the aid of drawing tools. Another popular approach is the
Unified Modeling Language. A successful data model will accurately
reflect the possible state of the external world being modeled: for
example, if people can have more than one phone number, it will allow this

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 62 of 109
:
 information to be captured. Designing a good conceptual data model
requires a good understanding of the application domain; it typically
involves asking deep questions about the things of interest to an
organization, like "can a customer also be a supplier?", or "if a product is
sold with two different forms of packaging, are those the same product or
different products?", or "if a plane flies from New York to Dubai via
Frankfurt, is that one flight or two (or maybe even three)?". The answers to
these questions establish definitions of the terminology used for entities
(customers, products, flights, flight segments) and their relationships and
attributes.

Producing the conceptual data model sometimes involves input from

business processes, or the analysis of workflow in the organization. This
can help to establish what information is needed in the database, and what
can be left out. For example, it can help when deciding whether the
database needs to hold historic data as well as current data.

Having produced a conceptual data model that users are happy with, the
next stage is to translate this into a schema that implements the relevant
data structures within the database. This process is often called logical
database design, and the output is a logical data model expressed in the
form of a schema. Whereas the conceptual data model is (in theory at
least) independent of the choice of database technology, the logical data
model will be expressed in terms of a particular database model supported
by the chosen DBMS. (The terms data model and database model are
often used interchangeably, but in this article we use data model for the
design of a specific database, and database model for the modeling
notation used to express that design).

The most popular database model for general-purpose databases is the

relational model, or more precisely, the relational model as represented by
the SQL language. The process of creating a logical database design using
this model uses a methodical approach known as normalization. The goal

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 63 of 109
:
 of normalization is to ensure that each elementary "fact" is only recorded
in one place, so that insertions, updates, and deletions automatically
maintain consistency.

The final stage of database design is to make the decisions that affect
performance, scalability, recovery, security, and the like, which depend on
the particular DBMS. This is often called physical database design, and the
output is the physical data model. A key goal during this stage is data
independence, meaning that the decisions made for performance
optimization purposes should be invisible to end-users and applications.
There are two types of data independence: Physical data independence
and logical data independence. Physical design is driven mainly by
performance requirements, and requires a good knowledge of the
expected workload and access patterns, and a deep understanding of the
features offered by the chosen DBMS.

Another aspect of physical database design is security. It involves both

defining access control to database objects as well as defining security
levels and methods for the data itself.

Models

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 64 of 109
:
 Collage of five types of database models

A database model is a type of data model that determines the logical

structure of a database and fundamentally determines in which manner
data can be stored, organized, and manipulated. The most popular
example of a database model is the relational model (or the SQL
approximation of relational), which uses a table-based format.

Common logical data models for databases include:

Navigational databases
Hierarchical database
model
Network model

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 65 of 109
:
 Graph database
Relational model
Entity–relationship model
Enhanced entity–
relationship model
Object model
Document model
Entity–attribute–value model
Star schema
An object–relational database combines the two related structures.

Physical data models include:

Inverted index

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 66 of 109
:
 Flat file
Other models include:

Multidimensional model
Array model
Multivalue model
Specialized models are optimized for particular types of data:

XML database
Semantic model
Content store
Event store
Time series model

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 67 of 109
:
 External, conceptual, and
internal views

Traditional view of data[38]

A database management system provides three views of the database

data:

The external level defines

how each group of end-users
sees the organization of data in
the database. A single
database can have any

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 68 of 109
:
 number of views at the
external level.
The conceptual level (or
logical level) unifies the
various external views into a
compatible global view.[39] It
provides the synthesis of all
the external views. It is out of
the scope of the various
database end-users, and is
rather of interest to database
application developers and
database administrators.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 69 of 109
:
 The internal level (or physical
level) is the internal
organization of data inside a
DBMS. It is concerned with
cost, performance, scalability
and other operational matters.
It deals with storage layout of
the data, using storage
structures such as indexes to
enhance performance.
Occasionally it stores data of
individual views (materialized
views), computed from generic

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 70 of 109
:
 data, if performance
justification exists for such
redundancy. It balances all the
external views' performance
requirements, possibly
conflicting, in an attempt to
optimize overall performance
across all activities.
While there is typically only one conceptual and internal view of the data,
there can be any number of different external views. This allows users to
see database information in a more business-related way rather than from
a technical, processing viewpoint. For example, a financial department of a
company needs the payment details of all employees as part of the
company's expenses, but does not need details about employees that are
in the interest of the human resources department. Thus different
departments need different views of the company's database.

The three-level database architecture relates to the concept of data

independence which was one of the major initial driving forces of the
relational model.[39] The idea is that changes made at a certain level do
not affect the view at a higher level. For example, changes in the internal

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 71 of 109
:
 level do not affect application programs written using conceptual level
interfaces, which reduces the impact of making physical changes to
improve performance.

The conceptual view provides a level of indirection between internal and

external. On the one hand it provides a common view of the database,
independent of different external view structures, and on the other hand it
abstracts away details of how the data are stored or managed (internal
level). In principle every level, and even every external view, can be
presented by a different data model. In practice usually a given DBMS
uses the same data model for both the external and the conceptual levels
(e.g., relational model). The internal level, which is hidden inside the DBMS
and depends on its implementation, requires a different level of detail and
uses its own types of data structure types.

Research
Database technology has been an active research topic since the 1960s,
both in academia and in the research and development groups of
companies (for example IBM Research). Research activity includes theory
and development of prototypes. Notable research topics have included
models, the atomic transaction concept, related concurrency control
techniques, query languages and query optimization methods, RAID, and
more.

The database research area has several dedicated academic journals (for
example, ACM Transactions on Database Systems-TODS, Data and
Knowledge Engineering-DKE) and annual conferences (e.g., ACM
SIGMOD, ACM PODS, VLDB, IEEE ICDE).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 72 of 109
:
 See also

Comparison of database tools

Comparison of object
database management
systems
Comparison of object–
relational database
management systems
Comparison of relational
database management
systems
Data hierarchy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 73 of 109
:
 Data hierarchy
Data bank
Data store
Database theory
Database testing
Database-centric architecture
Datalog
Database-as-IPC
DBOS
Flat-file database
INP (database)
Journal of Database

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 74 of 109
:
 Journal of Database
Management
Question-focused dataset

Notes

a. This article quotes a

development time of five
years involving 750 people
for DB2 release 9 alone.[27]

References

1. Ullman & Widom 1997,

p. 1.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 75 of 109
:
 p. 1.
2. "Update Definition &
Meaning" (http://www.merr
iam-webster.com/dictionar
y/update) . Merriam-
Webster. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/2024
0225065959/https://www.
merriam-webster.com/dicti
onary/update) from the
original on Feb 25, 2024.
3. "Retrieval Definition &
Meaning" (http://www.merr
iam-webster.com/dictionar

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 76 of 109
:
 iam-webster.com/dictionar
y/retrieval) . Merriam-
Webster. Archived (https://
web.archive.org/web/2023
0627174611/https://www.
merriam-webster.com/dicti
onary/retrieval) from the
original on Jun 27, 2023.
4. "Administration Definition &
Meaning" (http://www.merr
iam-webster.com/dictionar
y/administration) .
Merriam-Webster.
Archived (https://web.archi

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 77 of 109
:
 ve.org/web/20231206055
116/https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/ad
ministration) from the
original on Dec 6, 2023.
5. Tsitchizris & Lochovsky
1982.
6. Beynon-Davies 2003.
7. Nelson & Nelson 2001.
8. Bachman 1973.
9. "TOPDB Top Database
index" (https://pypl.github.i
o/DB.html) . pypl.github.io.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 78 of 109
:
 o/DB.html) . pypl.github.io.
10. "database, n" (http://www.o
ed.com/view/Entry/47411) .
OED Online. Oxford
University Press. June
2013. Retrieved July 12,
2013. (Subscription
required.)

11. IBM Corporation (October

2013). "IBM Information
Management System (IMS)
13 Transaction and
Database Servers delivers
high performance and low

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 79 of 109
:
 high performance and low
total cost of ownership" (htt
p://www-01.ibm.com/com
mon/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?su
btype=ca&infotype=an&ap
pname=iSource&supplier=
897&letternum=ENUS213-
381) . Retrieved Feb 20,
2014.
12. Codd 1970.
13. Hershey & Easthope 1972.
14. North 2010.
15. Childs 1968a.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 80 of 109
:
 16. Childs 1968b.
17. M.A. Kahn; D.L. Rumelhart;
B.L. Bronson (October
1977). MICRO Information
Management System
(Version 5.0) Reference
Manual (https://docs.googl
e.com/viewer?a=v&pid=ex
plorer&chrome=true&srcid
=0B4t_NX-QeWDYZGMw
OTRmOTItZTg2Zi00YmJkL
Tg4MTktN2E4MWU0YmZl
MjE3) . Institute of Labor

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 81 of 109
:
 and Industrial Relations
(ILIR), University of
Michigan and Wayne State
University.
18. "Oracle 30th Anniversary
Timeline" (https://www.ora
cle.com/us/corporate/profi
t/p27anniv-timeline-15191
8.pdf) (PDF). Archived (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/2
0110320220813/http://ww
w.oracle.com/us/corporate/
profit/p27anniv-timeline-15
1918.pdf) (PDF) from the

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 82 of 109
:
 1918.pdf) (PDF) from the
original on 2011-03-20.
Retrieved 23 August 2017.
19. Interview with Wayne Ratliff
(http://www.foxprohistory.o
rg/interview_wayne_ratliff.h
tm) . The FoxPro History.
Retrieved on 2013-07-12.
20. Development of an object-
oriented DBMS; Portland,
Oregon, United States;
Pages: 472–482; 1986;
ISBN 0-89791-204-7

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 83 of 109
:
 21. Graves, Steve. "COTS
Databases For Embedded
Systems" (http://www.emb
edded-computing.com/arti
cles/id/?2020) Archived (
https://web.archive.org/we
b/20071114050734/http://
www.embedded-computin
g.com/articles/id/?2020)
2007-11-14 at the
Wayback Machine,
Embedded Computing
Design magazine, January
2007. Retrieved on August

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 84 of 109
:
 2007. Retrieved on August
13, 2008.
22. Argumentation in Artificial
Intelligence by Iyad
Rahwan, Guillermo R.
Simari
23. "OWL DL Semantics" (htt
p://www.obitko.com/tutorial
s/ontologies-semantic-we
b/owl-dl-semantics.html) .
Retrieved 10 December
2010.
24. Connolly & Begg 2014,
p. 64.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 85 of 109
:
 p. 64.
25. Connolly & Begg 2014,
pp. 97–102.
26. Connolly & Begg 2014,
p. 102.
27. Chong et al. 2007.
28. Connolly & Begg 2014,
pp. 106–113.
29. Connolly & Begg 2014,
p. 65.
30. Chapple 2005.
31. "Structured Query
Language (SQL)" (http://pu

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 86 of 109
:
 Language (SQL)" (http://pu
blib.boulder.ibm.com/infoc
enter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?
topic=com.ibm.db2.udb.ad
min.doc/doc/c0004100.ht
m) . International Business
Machines. October 27,
2006. Retrieved
2007-06-10.
32. Wagner 2010.
33. Ramalho, J.C.; Faria, L.;
Helder, S.; Coutada, M. (31
December 2013).
"Database Preservation

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 87 of 109
:
 "Database Preservation
Toolkit: A flexible tool to
normalize and give access
to databases" (https://core.
ac.uk/display/55635702?al
gorithmId=15&similarToDo
c=55614406&similarToDo
cKey=CORE&recSetID=f3ff
ea4d-1504-45e9-bfd6-a0
495f5c8f9c&position=2&r
ecommendation_type=sam
e_repo&otherRecs=55614
407,55635702,55607961,
55613627,2255664) .

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 88 of 109
:
 55613627,2255664) .
Biblioteca Nacional de
Portugal (BNP). University
of Minho.
34. Paiho, Satu; Tuominen,
Pekka; Rökman, Jyri;
Ylikerälä, Markus; Pajula,
Juha; Siikavirta, Hanne
(2022). "Opportunities of
collected city data for
smart cities" (https://doi.or
g/10.1049%2Fsmc2.1204
4) . IET Smart Cities. 4 (4):
275–291.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 89 of 109
:
 275–291.
doi:10.1049/smc2.12044 (
https://doi.org/10.1049%2
Fsmc2.12044) .
ISSN 2631-7680 (https://s
earch.worldcat.org/issn/26
31-7680) .
S2CID 253467923 (http
s://api.semanticscholar.or
g/CorpusID:253467923) .
35. David Y. Chan; Victoria
Chiu; Miklos A. Vasarhelyi
(2018). Continuous
auditing : theory and

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 90 of 109
:
 application (1st ed.).
Bingley, UK: Emerald
Publishing. ISBN 978-1-
78743-413-4.
OCLC 1029759767 (http
s://search.worldcat.org/ocl
c/1029759767) .
36. Halder & Cortesi 2011.
37. Ben Linders (January 28,
2016). "How Database
Administration Fits into
DevOps" (https://www.info
q.com/news/2016/01/data

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 91 of 109
:
 base-administration-devop
s) . Retrieved April 15,
2017.
38. itl.nist.gov (1993)
Integration Definition for
Information Modeling
(IDEFIX) (http://www.itl.nis
t.gov/fipspubs/idef1x.doc)
Archived (https://web.archi
ve.org/web/20131203223
034/http://www.itl.nist.gov/
fipspubs/idef1x.doc)
2013-12-03 at the

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 92 of 109
:
 Wayback Machine. 21
December 1993.
39. Date 2003, pp. 31–32.

Sources

Bachman, Charles W. (1973).

"The Programmer as
Navigator" (https://doi.org/10.1
145%2F355611.362534) .
Communications of the ACM.
16 (11): 653–658.
doi:10.1145/355611.362534 (
https://doi.org/10.1145%2F35

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 93 of 109
:
 https://doi.org/10.1145%2F35
5611.362534) .
Beynon-Davies, Paul (2003).
Database Systems (3rd ed.).
Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-
1403916013.
Chapple, Mike (2005). "SQL
Fundamentals" (http://databas
es.about.com/od/sql/a/sqlfund
amentals.htm) . Databases.
About.com. Archived (https://w
eb.archive.org/web/20090222
225300/http://databases.abo
ut.com/od/sql/a/sqlfundament

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 94 of 109
:
 ut.com/od/sql/a/sqlfundament
als.htm) from the original on
22 February 2009. Retrieved
28 January 2009.
Childs, David L. (1968a).
Description of a set-theoretic
data structure (https://deepblu
e.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/hand
le/2027.42/4163/bac0294.00
01.001.pdf?sequence=5&isAll
owed=y) (PDF) (Technical
report). CONCOMP (Research
in Conversational Use of
Computers) Project. University

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 95 of 109
:
 Computers) Project. University
of Michigan. Technical Report
3.
Childs, David L. (1968b).
Feasibility of a set-theoretic
data structure: a general
structure based on a
reconstituted definition (http
s://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bits
tream/handle/2027.42/4164/b
ac0293.0001.001.pdf?sequen
ce=5&isAllowed=y) (PDF)
(Technical report). CONCOMP
(Research in Conversational

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 96 of 109
:
 (Research in Conversational
Use of Computers) Project.
University of Michigan.
Technical Report 6.
Chong, Raul F.; Wang, Xiaomei;
Dang, Michael; Snow, Dwaine
R. (2007). "Introduction to
DB2" (http://www.ibmpressbo
oks.com/articles/article.asp?p
=1163083) . Understanding
DB2: Learning Visually with
Examples (2nd ed.). IBM Press
Pearson plc. ISBN 978-
0131580183. Retrieved

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 97 of 109
:
 17 March 2013.
Codd, Edgar F. (1970). "A
Relational Model of Data for
Large Shared Data Banks" (htt
p://www.seas.upenn.edu/~zive
s/03f/cis550/codd.pdf)
(PDF). Communications of the
ACM. 13 (6): 377–387.
doi:10.1145/362384.362685
(https://doi.org/10.1145%2F36
2384.362685) .
S2CID 207549016 (https://ap
i.semanticscholar.org/CorpusI
D:207549016) .

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 98 of 109
:
 D:207549016) .
Connolly, Thomas M.; Begg,
Carolyn E. (2014). Database
Systems – A Practical
Approach to Design
Implementation and
Management (6th ed.).
Pearson. ISBN 978-
1292061184.
Date, C. J. (2003). An
Introduction to Database
Systems (https://archive.org/d
etails/introductiontoda0000da
te) (8th ed.). Pearson.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 99 of 109
:
 te) (8th ed.). Pearson.
ISBN 978-0321197849.
Halder, Raju; Cortesi, Agostino
(2011). "Abstract Interpretation
of Database Query
Languages" (http://www.dsi.un
ive.it/~cortesi/paperi/CL2012.
pdf) (PDF). Computer
Languages, Systems &
Structures. 38 (2): 123–157.
doi:10.1016/j.cl.2011.10.004 (h
ttps://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.cl.2
011.10.004) . ISSN 1477-
8424 (https://search.worldcat.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 100 of 109
:
 8424 (https://search.worldcat.
org/issn/1477-8424) .
Hershey, William; Easthope,
Carol (1972). A set theoretic
data structure and retrieval
language (https://docs.google.
com/open?id=0B4t_NX-QeW
DYNmVhYjAwMWMtYzc3ZS0
0YjI0LWJhMjgtZTYyODZmN
mFkNThh) . Spring Joint
Computer Conference, May
1972. ACM SIGIR Forum.
Vol. 7, no. 4. pp. 45–55.
doi:10.1145/1095495.109550

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 101 of 109
:
 doi:10.1145/1095495.109550
0 (https://doi.org/10.1145%2F1
095495.1095500) .
Nelson, Anne Fulcher; Nelson,
William Harris Morehead
(2001). Building Electronic
Commerce: With Web
Database Constructions.
Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-
0201741308.
North, Ken (10 March 2010).
"Sets, Data Models and Data
Independence" (http://drdobb
s.com/blogs/database/22870

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 102 of 109
:
 s.com/blogs/database/22870
0616) . Dr. Dobb's. Archived (
https://web.archive.org/web/2
0121024064523/http://www.d
rdobbs.com/database/sets-dat
a-models-and-data-independ
ence/228700616) from the
original on 24 October 2012.
Tsitchizris, Dionysios C.;
Lochovsky, Fred H. (1982).
Data Models (https://archive.or
g/details/datamodels00tsic) .
Prentice–Hall. ISBN 978-
0131964280.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 103 of 109
:
 0131964280.
Ullman, Jeffrey; Widom,
Jennifer (1997). A First Course
in Database Systems (https://a
rchive.org/details/firstcoursein
dat00ullm) . Prentice–Hall.
ISBN 978-0138613372.
Wagner, Michael (2010),
SQL/XML:2006 – Evaluierung
der Standardkonformität
ausgewählter
Datenbanksysteme, Diplomica
Verlag, ISBN 978-
3836696098

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 104 of 109
:
 3836696098

Further reading

Ling Liu and Tamer M. Özsu

(Eds.) (2009). "Encyclopedia
of Database Systems (https://
www.springer.com/computer/d
atabase+management+&+info
rmation+retrieval/book/978-0
-387-49616-0) , 4100 p. 60
illus. ISBN 978-0-387-
49616-0.
Gray, J. and Reuter, A.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 105 of 109
:
 Transaction Processing:
Concepts and Techniques, 1st
edition, Morgan Kaufmann
Publishers, 1992.
Kroenke, David M. and David J.
Auer. Database Concepts. 3rd
ed. New York: Prentice, 2007.
Raghu Ramakrishnan and
Johannes Gehrke, Database
Management Systems (http://
pages.cs.wisc.edu/~dbbook/)
.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 106 of 109
:
 Abraham Silberschatz, Henry
F. Korth, S. Sudarshan,
Database System Concepts (h
ttp://www.db-book.com/) .
Lightstone, S.; Teorey, T.;
Nadeau, T. (2007). Physical
Database Design: the
database professional's guide
to exploiting indexes, views,
storage, and more. Morgan
Kaufmann Press. ISBN 978-0-
12-369389-1.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 107 of 109
:
 Teorey, T.; Lightstone, S. and
Nadeau, T. Database Modeling
& Design: Logical Design, 4th
edition, Morgan Kaufmann
Press, 2005. ISBN 0-12-
685352-5.
CMU Database courses
playlist (https://www.youtube.
com/@CMUDatabaseGroup/p
laylists)
MIT OCW 6.830 | Fall 2010 |
Database Systems (https://oc

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 108 of 109
:
 w.mit.edu/courses/6-830-dat
abase-systems-fall-2010/)
Berkeley CS W186 (https://cs
186berkeley.net)

External links

DB File extension (http://www.f

ileextension.org/DB) –
information about files with the
DB extension

Retrieved from

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database 22/12/24, 15 52
Page 109 of 109
: