What is a Database?

Name: What is a Database?
Author: Daniel Hanks

A closer examination of data and how you can install database software

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Course: On-Demand

In this lesson, we're gonna talk about data itself before we dive right into the actual databases. In order to understand the need and advantages of a database we need to understand data itself. In computing terms, data is simply raw information that by itself doesn't really mean anything. It needs to be stored and organized in a way that turns it into something useful. Data can be anything really, it can be a group of text letters, it could be integers. If we wanted to create a crude example we could say I was walking down the street, and I noticed five houses while I was walking. So I have five houses here, numbers one through five. I happened to look in their windows while I was walking past and I noticed three of 'em had football games on. So if I say one, three and five all have football games on and house number two, head cartoons on, or it was just a movie, so I have some data here that probably doesn't mean anything to anybody. And honestly, wouldn't mean much to me just as it is. Now, if I happen to know my neighbors' ages I could add that to this so, again, I have lots of numbers and some text here that creates data but this, as itself, is not gonna mean much to anybody. And it's, certainly, not gonna be useful. If we wanted to try and make this useful to someone we could simply start off by labeling it. We'll say TV for what was on and of course we have our age. So by simply adding some labels here we can see we've created some somewhat useful information now, we've established a correlation between an age bracket with people in their twenties and watching football in this particular area. Obviously, a sample size of five isn't large enough to really mean much to anybody. Let's say you started doing surveys, and we added all this data here. So this is just 25 houses, but you can see how much more difficult this would be to organize this into something that we could use as a report. Then, if you had an even bigger survey that went out to like over 1,000, obviously organizing that data becomes a lot more complicated. And this is where a database comes into play. So with that, we're gonna end this lesson right now. And in the next lesson we will talk about what a database is and how it's gonna help organize our data.

Beginner Provider : Daniel Hanks 4 Lessons · 7m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Chinese

Course Description

What’s the difference between data and a database? What advantages does a database offer when working with data? These lessons introduce you to what raw, unstructured data is and what needs to be done to make it useful information. You’ll learn how much more interesting data can become by simply adding labels and organizing it. These lessons will then show you how to distinguish between data and a database. You’ll quickly begin to see the benefits of using a database as you learn about the structure a table within a database will bring to your data. You’ll learn about rows, columns and how they create a record, and why it’s so much faster to search for a record in a database. Finally, you’ll review what database software is and review some of the most popular options available. This will include SQL Server 2019 Developer, which you’ll learn how to install and configure.

What You'll Learn

Understand data as a concept, including raw, unstructured data and how labels and organization turn it into useful information
Distinguish between data and a database
Learn how a table structures data using rows, columns, and records
Explain why searching for a record in a database is faster
Review database software and some of the most popular options available
Install and configure SQL Server 2019 Developer

Key Takeaways

Raw, unstructured data must be labeled and organized to become useful information.
A database brings structure to data through tables, and a table organizes data into rows and columns that create a record.
Searching for a record in a database is much faster than working with unstructured data.
Database software comes in several popular options, including SQL Server 2019 Developer, which can be installed and configured.
The course distinguishes between data and a database and explains the advantages a database offers when working with data.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this course cover?

It introduces what raw, unstructured data is and what is needed to make it useful information, how to distinguish data from a database, the structure a table brings through rows, columns, and records, why searching for a record in a database is faster, and a review of database software including SQL Server 2019 Developer.

What are the learning objectives?

The objectives are to understand data as a concept, learn about databases and database software, and install database software.

What lessons are included?

The course includes four lessons: What is Data?, What is a Database?, Database Software, and Installing Database Software.

What database software will I work with?

You will review some of the most popular database software options, including SQL Server 2019 Developer, which you will learn how to install and configure.

What skills does this course relate to?

It relates to Database Development, Database Management, Database Programming, Database Software, Database Testing, and SQL (Programming Language).