Access Database Design and Programming, Second Edition

Chapter 1. Introduction

Database Design

As mentioned in the Preface, one purpose of this book is to explain the basic concepts of modern relational database theory and show how these concepts are realized in Microsoft Access. Allow me to amplify on this rather lofty goal.

To take a very simple view, which will do nicely for the purposes of this introductory discussion, a database is just a collection of related data. A database management system , or DBMS, is a system that is designed for two main purposes:

• To add, delete, and update the data in the database

• To provide various ways to view (on screen or in print) the data in the database

If the data are simple, and there is not very much data, then a database can consist of a single table. In fact, a simple database can easily be maintained even with a word processor!

To illustrate, suppose you want to set up a database for the books in a library. Purely for the sake of illustration, suppose the library contains 14 books. The same discussion would apply to a library of perhaps a few hundred books. Table 1.1 shows the LIBRARY_FLAT database in the form of a single table.

Table 1-1. The LIBRARY_FLAT Sample Database

ISBN	Title	AuID	AuName	AuPhone	PubID	PubName	PubPhone	Price
1-1111-1111-1	C++	4	Roman	444-444-4444	1	Big House	123-456-7890	$29.95
0-99-999999-9	Emma	1	Austen	111-111-1111	1	Big House	123-456-7890	$20.00
0-91-335678-7	Faerie Queene	7	Spenser	777-777-7777	1	Big House	123-456-7890	$15.00
0-91-045678-5 ...