Beginning C# 3.0

14.1. What is a Database?

A database is simply a collection of information. In fact, if you wanted to, you could use the topics covered in Chapter 13 to construct your own database. However, if you value your time at more than two cents an hour, it's silly to reinvent the wheel. It is far wiser to use a commercially available database system than to attempt to write one yourself.

A relational database is a collection of information in which the data within the database are associated with one another in some way. Managing the interrelationships in a relational database can get rather complex. For that reason, most people prefer to use a commercially available database management system (DBMS) to manage a database. A DBMS is a suite of programs that simplifies the tasks associated with building and using a relational database. Many major software companies (such as Oracle, IBM, Microsoft, and others) market DBMS software for use with their databases.

C# embodies the Microsoft Jet DBMS and is designed to work directly with Microsoft Access database (*.mdb) files. However, Visual Studio 2008 also comes with support for a new language component named LINQ that provides some interesting features for manipulating data. The C# Express version directly supports the use of LINQ only with Microsoft's SQL Server databases. (You can get around this, however, quite easily.) The Professional version of C# also supports other commercially available DBMSes. (I explore both Jet and LINQ in this ...