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A database table can be thought of as consisting of rows and columns. [1] Each row in a table represents a set of related data, and every row in the table has the same structure. For example, in a table that represents companies, each row might represent a single company. Columns might represent things like company name, address, etc.
The following is provided as an overview of and topical guide to databases: Database – organized collection of data, today typically in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies).
Thus, the "relation" in "relational database" refers to the various tables in the database; a relation is a set of tuples. The columns enumerate the various attributes of the entity (the employee's name, address or phone number, for example), and a row is an actual instance of the entity (a specific employee) that is represented by the relation.
The two most common representations are column-oriented (columnar format) and row-oriented (row format). [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The choice of data orientation is a trade-off and an architectural decision in databases , query engines, and numerical simulations. [ 1 ]
For example, consider a database of electronic health records. Such a database could contain tables like the following: A doctor table with information about physicians. A patient table for medical subjects undergoing treatment. An appointment table with an entry for each hospital visit. Natural relationships exist between these entities:
This step involves specifying the indexing options and other parameters residing in the DBMS data dictionary. It is the detailed design of a system that includes modules & the database's hardware & software specifications of the system. Some aspects that are addressed at the physical layer: Security – end-user, as well as administrative security.
Horizontal partitioning splits one or more tables by row, usually within a single instance of a schema and a database server. It may offer an advantage by reducing index size (and thus search effort) provided that there is some obvious, robust, implicit way to identify in which partition a particular row will be found, without first needing to search the index, e.g., the classic example of the ...
The active record pattern is an approach to accessing data in a database. A database table or view is wrapped into a class. Thus, an object instance is tied to a single row in the table. After creation of an object, a new row is added to the table upon save. Any object loaded gets its information from the database.