Chapter 2. Database Basics

If you’re new to databases, this chapter covers some basic concepts that will help you start off on the right foot in tapping the power of databases. If you’re already familiar with databases, you may want to skip ahead to FileMaker Basics on page 19.

While you might not think of them as such, databases are everywhere: address books, cookbooks, television program listings, to-do lists scribbled on envelopes—examples abound. None of those examples involves a computer, but they illustrate a fundamental concept: databases organize information.

It slices! It dices!

An address book organizes information alphabetically. A cookbook organizes information by ingredient or by course. Television listings organize information by time ...

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