Today companies are characterized by handling a large number of data of different types, whether they are personal, inventories, financial, among others. Because of this, databases have become a fundamental tool for what is systems development for organizations.
Can knowing, manipulating and managing All this information is very useful to carry out a endless activitiesespecially for business processes, such as power create a startup or even create more advanced themes like Bid Data.
Therefore, the most advisable thing in these cases is to have all this information in an orderly manner and with security levels where they can only be found and consulted by authorized persons. Taking all this into account, here we explain a little more about what databases are and what their main function is.
What is a database and what is it used for in computing?
A database is one that is responsible for collect all the data of a company and organizes them according to their category so that they can be searched for and found more easily through the computer system.
Currently this tool is also used to develop business analyticswhere the most modern ones have specific motors to take out complex reports according to the information that is stored.
It can also be said that it is a structured collection of records or information that is stored within a computer system, which will facilitate the search for said information. For this tool to be really functional it is necessary that store large amounts of records, allow easy access to it, offer security and so much registry changes as new information can be done quickly.
In order to have an efficient system, it is necessary to use programs that are capable of manage the query and the information saved in the database. These programs are generally known as “Database Management System” or “DBMS”.
In addition to all these details, it is important that these tools are designed with a high recording capacityas well as with the capacity to Recover data in cases that arise failures in the hardware.
Characteristics of a database. How should an ideal one be?
Being able to manage a whole information correctly requires ideal processes that are carried out properly in order to achieve satisfactory results. The main idea at the time of build a database is to be able to create a useful tool that facilitate activities that need to be done to business or personal use.
It is important to note that when create this tool we can have a greater strategic control about records that we have, thus allowing us to have a better control at all times.
Accordingly, here we explain the main characteristics of this system:
- the databases are usually made up of multiple tableswhich are called relations.
- Each of these tables are a set of fields (columns) and records (rows).
- The relationship between a parent table and a child table is done through the primary keys and foreign keys.
- No two tables can have the same registration and name, each one of them is completely unique.
- primary keys They are the primary key of every record within a table. They are required to comply with data integrity.
- foreign keys must be placed in the daughter tablesthey contain the same values as the parent record primary key. It is through them that relational forms are realized.
What are the types and models of databases that exist?
Today there are different types of data where each of them has its own own modelthat is, the way in which they are found structured. Among them we find what is the flat model, hierarchical model, relational model and the network model, among others, which we explain in detail below:
flat base model
This model has two dimensional data setwhere do you find one information column and within said column we can find that each of the data will have to do with the column.
An example of this is a flat base model that only has zip codes. Within the database only one column should be found where each of the rows within the column is a Postal Code different.
zip codes
6345469 9569824 9363452 6278965 7754742
All this has a benefit and that is that it allows all existing records can be stored in one place. At the same time, it offers a fairly simple structure that works very well for those small databases and what has minimum software and hardware requirements. Therefore, they are ideal for small businesses.
hierarchical model
This model mainly resembles what is the structure of a tree, such which how Microsoft Windows is in charge of organizing all the folders and files stored on the system. Therefore, in this model each of the links is added in order to keep data organized in a particular order and at the same list level.
An example of this hierarchical model is related to sales, where you can include sales of each day for separate files. But, nested in this file you will find all the sales that were made on that day.
All this model has some benefits for its usersthis is mainly because it offers one-to-one relationships, thus offering an easy-to-understand structure, even for those who they are not programmers. Therefore, once you have found the first record does not need to perform a scan on the index. Since each of records will send you to the next record.
This is because all the information is stored in a common groundthis makes be easier to see. In case you need to do modifications can be done simply replacing the existing data with the data new.
network models
network models are defining characteristics of when are stored records that contain a link to other records, which is known as a network. Therefore, these networks can contain a variety of different types of information, either node of a disk, address or numbers.
Like the previous modelthe components of this network base can vary according to the relationships between father and son. In this way, it presents a greater capacity for keep data than in hierarchical model.
In this case always there is a bond between a father and a sonso you always know maintains the integrity of the information. Also, by spending less time on keeping records improves performance and efficiency.
relational model
This model is currently the most popular in this system, and it stands out for being a tool extremely powerful compared to the others. This is how it offers great advantages when it comes to store information and to access it easily and quickly.
East relational model is organized in boards Shape, where information can be access or add without rearranging the tables. In addition, a table can end up having a great number of records where each of them can have many fields. Sometimes these pictures are called relationship.
An example of this can be a company that has a base called “Customer Orders” within this base there must be different tables where all customer orderseach of this table can include customer information such as the name, address, contact, among others.
There must also exist another table named relations, it is related to those customers who already have registration, that is to say that they have previously purchased, they contain payment method, items, item descriptionamong others.
It is important to mention that each of these fields has a own primary key, this being the only field that makes it easy to identify a record. In addition, this will make it possible to restrict user data, either for make them visible or modify themthus offering greater security.
object-oriented model
As its name indicates, it is related to objects used in object-oriented programming. The database works well with object-oriented languages like Java, Smalltalk, Perl, C++, among others. In the event that the objects are similar, they are grouped in a single class and each of the objects of a particular class is called an instance.
These classes allow the programmer can define the data that is not included in the system. Bearing in mind that a class is the one that defines what data needed by the system. This prevents corruption of information and thus increases security in the process.
Multidimensional model
This model is located directly related to what is online analytical processing which way part of business intelligence and information storage. These online analytical processes They are the ones that facilitate the visualization of data from different points of view. They are used to be able access multidimensional data.
These data can be viewed through cubes that represent the different dimensions available. Furthermore, this allows combine the advantages of relational and hierarchical databases. Thus responding quickly to inquiries due to the optimized storage and multidimensional indexing.
Object-relational model
In this case it is presented what is a relational database combined with object-oriented conceptsas they are classes, inheritance and polymorphism. One of the main advantages of this is that it allows to easily obtain the data through the polymorphismas well as being able to reuse information more easily.
It also allows store large amounts of information within classes. In addition, it offers many solutions relational databases in the cloudwhat has become is a very good alternative for services found hosted in the cloud.
Examples of databases that you can copy for your company
Today there are many examples of this system which we can use to copy them in our companiesthis may help us to achieve results with very optimal yields.
Therefore, some of the examples we found are the following:
- Personal files: These are those sets life writings of an author, researcher or intellectual which are stored in a file. This allows them to be consulted without being placed in risk the original writing or document.
- Telephone directories: They were known as the books that used to have a great number of phone numbers that they were…
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