Database management is a method of managing the information that a company needs to run its business operations. It includes data storage, distributing it to applications and users and modifying it as needed, monitoring changes in the data and preventing it from becoming damaged by unexpected failure. It is an integral part of the overall informational infrastructure of a company which supports decision-making, corporate growth, and compliance with laws like the GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act.
In the 1960s, Charles Bachman and IBM among others came up with the first database systems. They developed into information management systems (IMS) which enabled the storage and retrieve large amounts of data for a variety of uses, from calculating inventory to supporting complex human resources and financial accounting functions.
A database consists of tables that organize data according to some pattern, for example, one-to-many relationships. It uses primary keys to identify records and allows cross-references between tables. Each table has a set of fields, referred to as attributes, that provide information about the data entities. Relational models, which were developed by E. F. “TedCodd Codd in the 1970s at IBM, are the most widely used type of database currently. This model is based on normalizing the data, making it simpler to use. It is also simpler to update data since it doesn’t require changing various databases.
Most DBMSs are able to support different types of databases by providing different internal and external levels of organization. The internal level deals with cost, scalability, and other operational issues like the physical layout of the database. The external level is how the database is represented in user interfaces and other applications. It can include a combination of different external views (based on the various data models) and may also include virtual tables that are constructed from generic data to improve performance.
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