A data dictionary, or metadata repository, as defined in the IBM Dictionary of Computing, is a "centralized repository of information about data such as meaning, relationships to other data, origin, usage, and format." The term may have one of several closely related meanings pertaining to databases and database management systems (DBMS):
- a document describing a database or collection of databases
- an integral component of a DBMS that is required to determine its structure
- a piece of middleware that extends or supplants the native data dictionary of a DBMS
Read more about Data Dictionary: Documentation, Middleware
Famous quotes containing the words data and/or dictionary:
“Mental health data from the 1950’s on middle-aged women showed them to be a particularly distressed group, vulnerable to depression and feelings of uselessness. This isn’t surprising. If society tells you that your main role is to be attractive to men and you are getting crow’s feet, and to be a mother to children and yours are leaving home, no wonder you are distressed.”
—Grace Baruch (20th century)
““Will I have to use a dictionary to read your book?” asked Mrs. Dodypol. “It depends,” says I, “how much you used the dictionary before you read it.””
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)