A database is an organized collection of data, generally stored and accessed electronically from a computer system. Where databases are more complex they are often developed using formal design and modeling techniques.
Relational databases store data in rows and columns. Each row is a record, and each column is an attribute. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the standard language used to interact with them.
- Examples: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, SQLite.
NoSQL databases are built to handle large volumes of unstructured data. There are various types, such as document-based, key-value pairs, wide-column stores, and graph databases.
- Examples: MongoDB, Redis, Cassandra, Neo4j.
- Data Integrity and Security: Proper access controls and data constraints.
- Scalability: Databases can handle massive amounts of data that would be impossible to store in regular files.
- Concurrency: Multiple users can safely query and update data at the same time.