database

We explain what a database is and what it is for. Also, what types of databases exist, and some examples.

information belonging to the same context, systematically ordered for later recovery, analysis and / or transmission. There are many forms of databases today, ranging from a library to vast sets of databases. data users of a business telecommunications.

Databases are the product of the human need to store information, that is, to preserve it against weather and deterioration, to be able to go to it later. In that sense, the appearance of the electronics and the computing it provided the indispensable digital element to store huge amounts of data in limited physical spaces, thanks to its conversion into electrical or magnetic signals.

The management of the databases is carried out through management systems (called DBMS for its acronym in English: Database Management Systems o Database Management Systems), currently digital and automated, which allow orderly storage and rapid retrieval of information. In this technology is the very principle of the computing.

In the creation of a database, different models can be followed and paradigms, each one endowed with characteristics, advantages and difficulties, emphasizing its organizational structure, its hierarchy, its capacity for transmission or interrelation, etc. This is known as database models and allows the design and implementation of algorithms and other logical management mechanisms, as the specific case may be.

Database types

There are different classifications of the databases, according to specific characteristics:

  • According to its variability. According to the data recovery and preservation processes, we can talk about:
    • Static databases. Typical of business intelligence and other areas of historical analysis, they are read-only databases, from which information can be extracted, but not already existing.
    • Dynamic databases. Apart from the basic query operations, these databases handle updating, reorganization, addition and deletion of information.
  • According to its content. According to the nature of the information contained, they can be:
    • Bibliographic. They contain various material from reading (books, magazines, etc.) ordered from key information such as the data of the author, the publisher, the year of appearance, the subject area or the title of the book, among many other possibilities.
    • Full text. They are handled with texts historical or documentary, whose preservation must be at all levels and are considered primary sources.
    • Directories. Huge lists of custom data or addresses of email, phone numbers, etc. The companies of services they manage huge clientele directories, for example.
    • Specialized. Databases of hyperspecialized or technical information, designed from the specific needs of a specific audience that consumes said information.

Database examples

Some possible examples of databases throughout history are:

  • Telephone directories. Although in disuse, these voluminous books used to contain thousands of telephone numbers assigned to homes, businesses and individuals, to allow the Username find the one I needed. They were cumbersome, heavy, but complete.
  • Personal files. The set of life writings of an author, researcher or intellectual are often preserved in a archive, which is organized based on the preservation and reproduction of the originals, allowing them to be consulted without putting the original document at risk.
  • Public libraries. The perfect example of databases, as they contain thousands or hundreds of thousands of records belonging to each book title available for loan, whether in room or circulating, and of which there may be more than one copy in the deposit. Librarians are responsible for designing these systems and ensuring their operation.
  • Transaction records. The operations carried out with a credit card, as well as the calls made with a cell phone, or other types of daily commercial transactions, all generate a set of records that will be given to a company database.
  • Medical history. Every time we go to the doctor or a hospital, the information regarding our Health, to the treatment received and other medical details in a file that keeps a record of our medical history, in the event that in the future it is required to know specific data, such as operations or treatments received.
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