Session 9

* Today we started talking about databases.
* A database is a type of PERSISTANT data storage.
* There are 2 different types of database - 1. Flat file and 2. Relational.
* An example of a flat file database would be an Excel spreadsheet (it deals with only one topic).
* An example of a relational database would be an Access file (can contain many different areas of information).
* The common features of relational databases are: creating tables; populating tables; retrieving data; generating queries; generating reports.
* Each TABLE in a database deals with a specific topic of information.
* Every column in a table is called a FIELD.
* Every row in a table is called a RECORD.
* When you define a new field you must also define the data type, e.g. text, memo, number, date/time, yes/no, currency, etc.
* Using related tables reduces repetition of data.
* When you are working with databases understanding how the IDs work is crucial.
* The first thing you should do when you build a table is define an ID field.
* The AUTONUMBER data type in Access provides an automatically incremented, sequential and unique number for our IDs.
* Every table has one PRIMARY KEY - a unique identifying feature (field) for the table.