Database Notes

Database: specialized structures that allow computer-based systems to store, manage, and retrieve data very quickly.
Data are raw facts.
Information is the result of processing raw data to reveal its meaning.
To reveal meaning, information requires context.
Raw data must be properly formatted for storage
Data constitute the building blocks of information.
Information is produced by processing data.
Information is used to reveal the meaning of data.
Accurate, relevant, and timely information is the key to good decision making.
Good decision making is the key to organizational survival in a global environment.
A database management system (DBMS) is typically used to implement and manage the contents of a database
A database is a shared, integrated computer structure that stores a collection of:
End-user data—that is, raw facts of interest to the end user.
Metadata, or data about data, through which the end-user data are integrated and managed.
A database will typically contain:
The collected data
“data about the data” (Metadata)
Database design defines the structure of a database
Traditional Types of Databases (RDBMs)
MS Access
MS SQL Server: developed by Microsoft. Does not support wide variety of platforms
MS SQL Azure
IBM DB2
MySQL: open source database management system. Can run on OS X system, Linux, etc.
Oracle RDBMS
NoSQL (Not only SQL) – not based on the traditional relational DB model
MongoDBCouchDBCassandra, etc.
A Spreadsheet Is Not a Database
It does not support even the most basic database functionality such as support for self-documentation through metadata, enforcement of data types or domains to ensure consistency of data within a column, defined relationships among tables, or constraints to ensure consistency of data across related tables.
Big Data
Data Visualization
Machine Learning
Unstructured Data
Analytics
Cassandra (Facebook) and BigTable (Google) are using “columnar-database” technologies to support the