Introductory Concept of Database
Database can he defined as an organized collection of related data. The word organized means that data is stored in such a way that the user can store, manipulate and retrieve data easily. The word related means that a database is normally created to store the data about a particular topic. For example if you create a database for students, it will contain the data about the students such as roll no, name, address and other information about the students. Similarly, if the database is about the employees of an organization, it will contain the data of the employees such as employee ID, grade and salary etc. All data in database is arranged in tables.
Tables: Table is the fundamental object of the database structure. The basic purpose of a table is to store data. A table consists of rows and columns. A table is a very convenient way to store data. You can easily manipulate the data in a table.
| Serial Number | Name of Student | Qualification |
| 1 | William | M.S |
| 2 | John | MBA |
Rows / Records: Rows are the horizontal part of the table. It is a collection of related fields. For example, in the above table, we have three rows. Each row contains a record of different person.
| 1 | William | M.S |
Columns / Fields: Columns are the vertical part of the table. For example, in the above table, all values under “Name” field make a column.
| Name of Student |
| William |
| John |
