Beginning Programming All-in-One For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 1

Database Management

IN THIS CHAPTER

Discovering the basics of databases

Figuring out how to manipulate data

Understanding database programming

Database management is all about storing organized information and knowing how to retrieve it again. Although the idea of storing and retrieving data is simple in theory, managing databases can get complicated in a hurry. Not only can data be critical, such as bank records, but data retrieval may be time-sensitive as well. After all, retrieving a person’s medical history in a hospital emergency room is useless if that information doesn’t arrive fast enough to tell doctors that the patient has an allergic reaction to a specific antibiotic.

Because storing and retrieving information is so important, one of the most common and lucrative fields of computer programming is database management. Database management involves designing and programming ways to store and retrieve data. Because nearly every type of business — from agriculture to banking to engineering — requires storing and retrieving information, database management is used throughout the world.

Understanding the Basics of Databases

A database acts like a big bucket where ...