1. Information Storage and Retrieval CS French Chapter 3

2. Database Package l A computer program that allows you to easily store, organise and retrieve information. l Enables you to: »define data to be stored »define how it is to be stored and kept up to date »define ways in which data may be retrieved and presented. »enter or update data »obtain answers to questions about data l Database »a complete set of data used for a particular purpose.

3. Record Field Database Field name Form View

4. Database Record Field Field name List View

5. Some Terms l Record »all the data about a single entity (person, thing) »a set of related fields l Field »one particular piece of data about any entity l Field name »The heading given for a particular piece of data l Key Field »a field whose contents are unique to a particular record »can be used to uniquely identify a particular record »eg student number l Data type »type of data allowed in a given field »eg. text, numeric, date etc l Validation »data being entered into a field may be restricted by type or specific values.