Database Development

Database Development

Databases can be thought of as extremely powerful spreadsheets that provide a way to store, manage, and retrieve large amounts of complicated information. They are organized and ordered in a way that expedites a computer program's ability to quickly find and select a desired piece of data.

Database development is concerned with simplifying the exchange of information between applications in order to serve present and future demands. With the rise of broadband communications, consumers and businesses demand real-time access to information. By understanding the latest technology and refining their programming skills, database developers are able to choose the right database system to suit a particular IT infrastructure, while also improving the speed and accuracy of their database systems.

Database Management Systems

Database Management Systems (DBMS) can be split into desktop databases and server databases. Desktop databases are typically only used by one user, while server databases must be reliable and consistent in their ability to provide access to multiple users.

DBMSs function as a collection of programs that allow multiple users to simultaneously store, modify, and retrieve information. Databases can vary widely in the way they function, depending upon how information is organized. This can have a direct affect on how fast and flexible a database is in retrieving information. In database development, these systems are designed, built, and queried in a way which is most efficient and powerful for their environment. The environment of the database depends on:

  • Hardware

  • Type of users

  • Tasks performed

  • How information will be modified

  • How the database will be supported and maintained.



Database Queries

A query is a request to retrieve information from a database system. There are three basic types of database queries:

  • Menus – the database system provides a menu with a list of parameters that you choose from. While easy to use, this method is inflexible

  • Example – in querying by example, the system presents a blank record where you can specify the particular fields and values that define the query

  • Language – many database systems demand that queries be written in a special query language in order to retrieve information. While this is very complex, it is also the most powerful.



Database information can also be presented in graphic and report formats that allows you to view output data in the form of graphs and charts.

Database Models

A database model describes the way in which a database system is structured and used. Hierarchical models branch into a tree-like structure that can't have too many relationships. Network models are a more flexible way of depicting objects and their relationships, forming more of a lattice structure. Relational models use names in place of ordering, while an object-relational database is a type of relational database that allows database developers to mold the database to their designated custom data types and methods.

By Doug Vanisky           


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