A database system is a term that is typically used to encapsulate the constructs of a data model, database management system (DBMS) and database.
A database is an organised pool of logically-related data. Data is stored within the data structures of the database. A DBMS is a suite of computer software providing the interface between users and a database or databases. A DBMS is a shell which surrounds a database or series of databases and through which all interactions take place with the database. The interactions catered for by most existing DBMS fall into four main groups:
- Data Definition. Defining new data structures for a database, removing data structures from the database, modifying the structure of existing data.
- Data Maintenance. Inserting new data into existing data structures, updating data in existing data structures, deleting data from existing data structures.
- Data Retrieval. Querying existing data by end-users and extracting data for use by application programs.
- Data Control. Creating and monitoring users of the database, restricting access to data in the database and monitoring the performance of databases.
Both a database and its DBMS conform to the principles of a particular data model. Data models include the hierarchical data model, the network data model, the relational data model and the object-oriented data model.
Famous quotes containing the word system:
“We recognize caste in dogs because we rank ourselves by the familiar dog system, a ladderlike social arrangement wherein one individual outranks all others, the next outranks all but the first, and so on down the hierarchy. But the cat system is more like a wheel, with a high-ranking cat at the hub and the others arranged around the rim, all reluctantly acknowledging the superiority of the despot but not necessarily measuring themselves against one another.”
—Elizabeth Marshall Thomas. “Strong and Sensitive Cats,” Atlantic Monthly (July 1994)