计算机专业外文翻译原文数据库管理系统介绍.docx

外文资料

DatabaseManagementSystems

Adatabase(sometimesspelleddatabase)isalsocalledanelectronicdatabase,referringtoanycollectionofdata,orinformation,thatisspeciallyorganizedforrapidsearchandretrievalbyacomputer.Databasesarestructuredtofacilitatethestorage,retrieval,modification,anddeletionofdatainconjunctionwithvariousdata-processingoperations.Databasescanbestoredonmagneticdiskortape,opticaldisk,orsomeothersecondarystoragedevice.

Adatabaseconsistsofafileorasetoffiles.Theinformationinthesefilesmaybebrokendownintorecords,eachofwhichconsistsofoneormorefields.Fieldsarethebasicunitsofdatastorage,andeachfieldtypicallycontainsinformationpertainingtooneaspectorattributeoftheentitydescribedbythedatabase.Usingkeywordsandvarioussortingcommands,userscanrapidlysearch,rearrange,group,andselectthefieldsinmanyrecordstoretrieveorcreatereportsonparticularaggregateofdata.

Complexdatarelationshipsandlinkagesmaybefoundinallbutthesimplestdatabases.Thesystemsoftwarepackagethathandlesthedifficulttasksassociatedwithcreating,accessing,andmaintainingdatabaserecordsiscalledadatabasemanagementsystem(DBMS).TheprogramsinaDBMSpackageestablishaninterfacebetweenthedatabaseitselfandtheusersofthedatabase..(Theseusersmaybeapplicationsprogrammers,managersandotherswithinformationneeds,andvariousOSprograms.)

ADBMScanorganize,process,andpresentselecteddataelementsformthedatabase.Thiscapabilityenablesdecisionmakerstosearch,probe,andquerydatabasecontentsinordertoextractanswerstononrecurringandunplannedquestionsthataren’tavailableinregularreports.Thesequestionsmightinitiallybevagueand/orpoorlydefined,butpeoplecan“browse”throughthedatabaseuntiltheyhavetheneededinformation.Inshort,theDBMSwill“manage”thestoreddatai