Lesson 1
INTRODUCTION
TO
DATABASES
Source: A Fundamental Study of Database
Management Systems (3rd Edition)
Learning Objectives
Express the dissimilarity between data and
information.
Discuss what a database is, including common
database terminologies.
Describe the first computer-based method in
handling files- File Processing System and its
disadvantage
DATA
A collection of raw facts and
figures is called data. The word raw
means that the facts have not yet
been processed to get their exact
meaning. Data is collected from
different sources. It is collected for
different purposes. Data may consist
of numbers, characters, symbols or
pictures, etc.
Examples of Data
When students get admission in
colleges or universities, they have to
fill out an online pre-registration Registration of National Health Declaration Form
form for admission. The raw facts are Identification Card
student’s name, course, nationality,
address etc. 3
Types of Data
NUMERIC DATA
ALPHABETIC DATA
ALPHANUMERIC DATA
IMAGE DATA
AUDIO DATA
VIDEO DATA
NUMERIC DATA
Data that is in the form of numbers, and not in
any language or descriptive form. Often referred
to as quantitative data, numerical data is
collected in number form and stands different
from any form of number data types due to its
ability to be statistically and arithmetically
calculated.
ALPHABETIC DATA
It consists of capital letters from A to Z, small letters from a
to z and blank space. Alphabetic data is also called non
numeric data.
ALPHANUMERIC DATA
Alphanumeric is a description of data that is
both letters and numbers. For example,
"1a2b3c" is a short string of alphanumeric
characters.
IMAGE DATA
A photographic or trace objects that
represent the underlying pixel data of an
area of an image element, which is created,
collected and stored using image
constructor devices.
IMAGE FILE FORMATS
AUDIO DATA
Any digital information with speech or
music stored on and played through a
computer.
INFORMATION
The processed data is called
information. Information is an
organized and processed form of
data. It is more meaningful than data
and is used for making decisions.
Data is used as input for the
processing and information is the
output of this processing.
Examples of Information
In colleges and universities, the
raw facts about students are
stored in a database system. If we
want to find out the list of all HRDM
students, we will process this data
through the institution’s portal.
Examples of Information
The data stored in the census is used
to generate different types of
information. For example, the
government can use it to find the
country's total number of graduates or
literacy rate. This information can be
obtained by processing stored data.
Government can use this information
to take important decisions to improve
the literacy rate.
Data vs Information
Data vs Information
DATA INFORMATION
Consist of unprocessed data The processed form of data
Data is used as input in the computer The output of computer
Not meaningful Meaningful
The asset of organizations and is not Normally available to people
available to people for sale
Data vs Information
DATA INFORMATION
Normally huge in volume Short in volume
An independent entity Depends on data
Not used in decision-making Important for decision-making
METADATA
METADATA
Metadata can be defined as
data about data. It is used to
describe the properties and
characteristics of some other
data. Metadata describes the
size, format and other
characteristics of data.
Image Metadata
