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What Is A Relational Database. “A Relational Database Is

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What is a Relational Database

“A relational database is a collection of data items organized as a set of formally-described tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to reorganize the database tables. It was invented by E.F. Codd in 1970.” (TechTarget, 2006) A simpler definition of a relational database is a self-describing group of related tables. There are three ways to modify a table. We can insert a record, delete one, or update a record, already in the table. When you create a database, you can set up business rules. Business rules become part of the database. These are called constraints, or Referential Integrity Constraints. When you relate tables together, you must have …show more content…

Databases allow companies to store virtually any type of data. They have high speed and low cost. Computer reports for job statistics along with automatic updates allow for increased speed and efficiency. And now, small business owners can use the cloud for database functionality.

Main components of a Relational Database

The main components of a relational database are rows, columns, and tables. The tables are known as relations, or files. The rows are called tuples, or records. The columns are called attributes, or fields. In order for a table to be a relation, rows must contain data about an entity, or something. Columns must contain data about attributes of the entity (quantity, tax, etc.), and cells must contain a single value only. All entries in a column are of the same type. Each column has a unique name, and no two rows can be identical. The order of both the rows and columns is not important. The other components of a relational database are forms, queries, reports, and also macro and module. A macro is a sequence of instructions that we give a single name to- it can provide extra features and functionality, and the module is written in a programming language and then run when need be. It also lends extra functionality to the database. The forms are used to enter one record at a time, the queries are used to search through the data for the answer to our question, and the report

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