Write about your understanding of databases. Explore the database advantages and write about database concepts such as primary and foreign keys

I. Database understanding:

A database is an organized collection of structured information, or data, usually stored in electronic form in a computer system. Databases are usually controlled by a database management system or DBMS. Together, the data and the DBMS, and the applications associated with them, are known as the database system, often abbreviated simply as the database (Oracle, 2022).

Data in the most common types of databases in operation today are often modelled as rows and columns in a series of tables to make data processing and querying efficient. The data can then be easily accessed, managed, modified, updated, controlled and organized. Most databases use structured query language (SQL) to write and query data.

II. Advantages:

Database management systems are essential for businesses and organizations. One reason is that a DBMS provides an efficient method for storing, organizing, and accessing data. Data management performs tasks automatically in a short time. Companies using data management have a competitive advantage, often associated with success. The enterprise sector is not the only one to benefit from data management. Many positive aspects can be seen every day in the field of health and safety (Library Guides, 2020). 

Reduced data redundancy

A file-based data management system contains many files that are stored in various locations within a single system or even across multiple systems. As a result, sometimes there are multiple copies of the same file, resulting in data redundancy. This is avoided in the database as there is only one database and any changes in that database will be reflected immediately. For this reason, there is no chance of encountering duplicate data.

Data integrity

Data integrity means correct and consistent data in the database. Data integrity is important because there are many databases in a DBMS. All of these databases contain data that is visible to multiple users. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that the data is correct and consistent across all databases and for all users.

Increased Security

Data security is an important concept in databases. Only authorized users are granted access to the database, and their identity must be authenticated with a username and password. Unauthorized users are not allowed to access the database under any circumstances as this violates integrity constraints.

Increased Privacy

The privacy policy in the database means that only authorized users can access the database based on its privacy terms. There are levels of access to the database and the user can only view the data to which he is authorized. Example - In social networking sites, the access constraints are different for the different accounts that the user may want to access.

III. Concepts:

A Primary key is a column or columns containing values ​​that uniquely identify each row of the table. The database table must have a primary key to insert, update, restore, or delete data from the database table. Primary keys can be defined in addition to those those in the database (Rabelo,2020).

The main features of a primary key are:

• it must be unique for each row in the table
• it cannot be null
• a primary key must be assigned to each row.

Foreign key

A foreign key also known as FK is a column or a combination of columns used to establish and enforce a data association between two tables. Its purpose is to control what data can be stored in a foreign key table. In foreign key references, a link is created between two tables when the column or columns containing the primary key value of one table is referenced by another table's column or columns. This column becomes the foreign key in the second table (Microsoft, 2022).

Here is a basic example on how these two concepts work. It is important to remember the attributes of the foreign and primary key as they are not illustrated in the table.

References

Oracle, 2022. What is a database?. [online] Oracle.com. Available at: <https://www.oracle.com/uk/database/what-is-database/#:~:text=A%20database%20is%20an%20organized,database%20management%20system%20(DBMS).> [Accessed 14 April 2022].

Library Guides, 2020. Library Guides: Public Opinion Research: Databases. [online] Libguides.du.edu. Available at: <https://libguides.du.edu/PublicOpinion> [Accessed 4 May 2022].

GeeksforGeeks, 2022. Advantages of Database Management System - GeeksforGeeks. [online] GeeksforGeeks. Available at:<https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/advantages-of-database-management-system/> [Accessed 6 September 2022].

Rabelo, 2022. What is a Primary Key? - Definition from Techopedia. [online] Techopedia.com. Available at: <https://www.techopedia.com/definition/5547/primary-key> [Accessed 6 September 2022].