What is Database? What is SQL and What are its Uses with Benefits? Get to Know About Everything

What is Database? Who uses it? Why is it needed? What are the benefits?

If all these questions are coming in your mind, then you must read this article carefully.

Whether there is a small business, a government agency or a multinational company, a website or a web application, even if you play a game in your mobile or watch an online video, there is data and only data everywhere.

Have you ever wondered where so much data is kept at the end and how is it managed?

All this is possible with the help of database. Today we will discuss these things in this article.

Contents:
What is data?
What is database?
What are Field, Record, and Table in the Database?
Where is the database used?
What are the benefits of database?
What is DBMS?
What is SQL?

What is data?

Before understanding the database, it is important to know what the data is. Data is a small part of any information. It can be a fact (facts) made out of a person, object or place connected.

Such as: Your name, your age, height, weight, mobile number etc. are some of the data related to you.

Data can be in different types of formats such as text, number, image, file etc.

When these data is processed in a particular form then it becomes an information form.

What is database?

The database is a set of many different data. These data is stored in a systematic manner in the database so that they can be easily accessed when needed.

You may have used Microsoft Office Excel where we use a table to store data, which we divide into several different columns so that our work is easy to get.

Similarly, in the database, the data is stored in a table, which has many columns and rows, which makes it easy to access them.

There may be several tables inside a database.

There are many dynamic websites on the internet that use the database.

For example, if we talk about Facebook, so that many details about the user such as their name, mobile number, profile pictures, friends, messages, posts, status etc. are stored in the database present in the database.

Similarly, if we talk about e-commerce websites such as Flipkart, Amazon etc., then it is also used there. From customer information, product detail, every one information is stored in the database.

What are Field, Record, and Table in the Database?

There are three main elements of a database:
Field
Record
Table

Field:  Fields are represented in columns in a database table. Simply put, you can call the table of the field in the field.

For the example you see the time table given below,
database field example

Record: We can call records of any table rows. For example see the table below, where records are given.
database-record

Table: Many Fields and Records creates a complete table. Many different but related data are entered on this table.
database table example

Where is the database used?

There are many different examples of this and it is very difficult to tell about every use of database. We give some examples below where the database is used:

Online Video Streaming: Whether you watch a video on Youtube or watch your favorite web series on Netflix, every video streaming site uses the database to manage its data, from where the information from the video reaches the user and it also creates a database.

Online gaming: Have you played a PUBG game? If yes, then you must have seen many millions of users playing games together, have you ever thought how these many users and their names would be managed and how they manage their gaming history? Obviously, the database is being used here also and it is not possible, without database.

Stock Market: Hundreds of companies are registered in the stock market and their shares get up and down in every second. There are more than billions of transactions every day. Where will all of them count? Can't work without databases here too.

Nationality card: You will also have to build nationality card during this time, you will have to give all kinds of information such as your name, birth date, parents' name, even your fingerprints, your retina marks. What do you think where and how all these information will be kept. Databases are required here too.

Railway Reservation System: From ticket booking to information of live status of the train are kept in a database.

Flight Reservation: Like the railways, there is a need for database to keep every single flight information safe.

Banking: We do thousands of transactions through banks daily and we can also do this without a bank, with a mobile app. So how banking has become so easy that we can send or receive money sitting at home. All this is possible due to the database of transactions that all banks manage.

Social Media: We are all on social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, so that we can share our ideas and connect with our friends. Millions of users have signed up on these social media platforms. But how all the user's information is stored and how we can connect with other people, yes it is also because of the database.

Online shopping website: This is the example we have given above. Anything you buy from an e-commerce site, its information is safe for years, which you can see in your shopping history anytime only because of database.

College / Universities: Every student from the staff to the staff is kept in the database because it is easy and secure.

Library Management System: Membership details, who read a book, book details are important, which is kept safe on the database.

Hospital Management System: In hospital, doctors and other staff keeps data related to patients and their diseases somewhere in the database.

Telecommunication: No telecommunication company can think of its business without database systems. These companies have to keep every information, such as call details and monthly bills.
Apart from all this, there may be many other places where the database is used. If you know, then please tell us by commenting.

What are the benefits of databases?

Now let us know why the database should be used and what its benefits can be:

• More data can be stored in less space through the database.
• Any information can be easily accessed.
• It's easy to insert new data, edit old data and delete it.
• It's easy to filter data.
• The data can be sorted in different ways.
• Many applications or users can access the same database simultaneously.
• It is very easy to import or export data from a database table.
• Provides more security than paper files.
• Redundancy reduces.
• Keeps programs and data different from each other.
• Features such as backup and recovery.

What is DBMS (Database Management System)?

You have understood what the database is and what its advantages are but to understand how a database works, you need to know about DBMS.

This question must have kept coming into your mind how would the data be stored in the database, how would it be edited, updated or deleted?

In fact, for this purpose we need a software through which we can create a database and access it and perform various types of operations on it.

There are several software / programs to manage the database and these are called database management systems (DBMS).

DBMS provides an interface through which we can do a lot of work such as:

• Create Database
• Table creation
• Inserting data into a table
• Retrive Data i.e. Access
• Updating already stored data
• Delete data etc.

In addition to this, DBMS is also working to keep data safe so that unauthorized person can not access it.

Although DBMS software can do a lot of things, some of the most used programs are:

1. MySql
2. Oracle
3. SQL Server
4. IBM DB2
5. PostgreSQL
6. SimpleDB

Apart from all this, there are many more options for database management. There are also many organizations that use their own software according to their needs.

What is SQL?

The complete form of SQL is Structured Query Language. Its S-Q-L or sometimes is also read as See-Quel. This is a type of language used in database management.


Operations such as create, insert, search, update, delete are performed in this database through this query language.

The way in which a programming language is syntax, itself also has syntax and rules.

For example, we have a table named student and we want to see the names of students who are under 20 years of age, their syntax will be as follows:

SELECT name from students WHERE age <20

Where "name" is the name of a column and "students" is the name of a table.

Different types of code have been set in SQL for each such type of operations.

Summary - What is the database?

• Database is a file where huge amount of data is kept in a systematic way.
• The data is placed on tables and there may be several tables in one database.
• DBMS's full form is "Database Management Systems".
• DBMS is a type of software / program or tool through which the database is managed.
• MySQL, SQL Server, Oracle etc. are some examples of DBMS software.
• The complete form of SQL is "Structured Query Language".
• Some codes are written through this language and in databases, operations such as insert, update, delete are performed.

thank you,

from a brother...