I am a computer instructor who teaching in the web category. As part of my teaching these subjects, I had to become something of a database and computer system information person. So I providing this article as an attempt to help people with no knowledge of database theory understand about making databases. This is for the people who ask me all the time about how to do link two line in excel and make excel act like a database engine. This is something that spreadsheets were not intended to do.
Chances are that you have several spreadsheets that you are storing information in. These maybe your video collection, music collection, or maybe even just a list of your customers. While it is possible to maintain the information in your spreadsheet program you are finding out just how limited most spreadsheets are for maintaining and even just getting answers to your queries from these lists. This is where a true database system shines.
Databases come in two types, just the Database engine, and all-in-one applications that wrap the entire database application system into one neat package. The Database engine systems are things like MySQL, SQLServer, and Oracle. That is not an exhaustive list. The Engines are just that they are the engines only with, in most cases, limited utilities. These systems require that you know SQL or have access to some GUI tools to help you build tables. What most people think of as databases are really the second type, the all-in-one database application builder. These have the engine, design tools, and some sort of reporting mechanism built into the application. Examples of this type of database are MS Access, OpenOffice Base, and Bento.
Which one you choose depends on your needs. If you need a database to drive your web site which might have thousands of transactions per minute or more, then you would go for one of the server databases like MySQL, or Oracle. If you just need to store your client information, or your family tree, then the all-in-one databases is where you would go.
For most users the all-in-one is probably all that you need. It will handle most small database needs. If you have one of the higher level of MS Office product you will have Access. If you don’t have access, and don’t want to foot out more money, then OpenOffice’s base product might be for you. In either case building a database is very similar for each product. Remember that technically these are not the database engine. In MS Access the engine is the Jet database engine. In OpenOffice Base the engine is Hsqldb, a db engine built entirely in java. Both of these products can use other engines for building the database, but the right out of the box database engines are what I written above.
Which one you choose depends on your needs. The standalone db are designed for big databases or dbs that need to respond quickly to queries. The all-in-ones are usually limited to a single file which is limited by the filesystem that is being used. Either is a good choice for storage, but if you need to use some sort of reporting without a buying a separate reporting solution, then the all-in-ones might be what you need.
Next time, building tables to store data.
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