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The history of databases essay
History of database with in technology
Database concepts 7th
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Intro
People have been collecting information since the dawn of recorded history. Very shortly after we started recording we ran in to the problem of storage. Where do we put all of this information? We soon developed written languages so we could store our collected information. The next problem to arise was retrieval of our stored information. This led to the development of systems like the dewy decimal system. Organizing books by subject and author made information retrieval a little easier. However, it was computer that revolutionized information storage and retrieval. Thus the first databases where born.
Flat File
Flat file databases where the first of many database models, almost as old as the computer. Flat file databases stored data in text files saved in the file system. There was little to no organization, it was a step backwards in data organization. The only real befit was that data could be retrieved remarkable speed, when the database was used by a very skilled programmer. This created a new problem. It now requires a very select set of skills to access any data, and not everyone wanting access to said data had these specific skills.
Hierarchical
The next big thing in the organization of data was the hierarchical database. This approach added structure to the storage and retrieval of data. With a hierarchical structure information is stored in a manner similar to the organization of a computer file system. The data is arranged with a root parent that has one or more children. This method of organization allows for very quick access of a large number of records. However, this vast improvement over its predecessor still had one of its major flaws. It still requires a skilled database programmer to access setu...
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...plex database structures. The object model even removes the need for associtave tables to accommodate for “many-to-many” relationships. In spite of the advanced features of the object model it suffers from an old problem. Like its ancestors the object model is very difficult to use.
Conclusion
People have been recording information for millennia, but only recently have we used computers to organize it. Through trial and error we have refined methods of origination, and retrieval. With the relatively new invitation of computers, and databases, we have made great leaps of advancement in such a short time. Through reason, and innovation, we shall continue to improve on the process of knowledge management.
Works Cited
Database Development. Boston: Pearson Custom Pub., 2008. Print.
Powell, Gavin. Beginning Database Design. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley, 2006. Print.
"In a landmark 1945 essay on "The Use of Knowledge in Society," Frederick Hayek spoke about the time we spend in on-the-job learning, and about the unique "knowledge of people, of local conditions, and of special circumstances" we each accumulate through our work" (Arthur, Defillippi, & Lindsay, 2008, p. 365). The enabling the presence and growth of knowledge workers are the technological developments of information systems to improve ideally the productivity of various tasks. Knowledge is "one of the most important driving forces for business success" (Mansour, Alhawari, Talet & Al-Jarrah, 2011, p. 684). As an IT discipline, knowledge management is experiencing a history and evolution since the early 90's. The composition of the development of knowledge management systems include
A database management system, or DBMS, gives the user access to their data and helps them transform the data into information. Such database management systems include dBase, Paradox, IMS, and Oracle. These systems allow users to create, update, and extract information from their databases. Compared to a manual filing system, the biggest advantages to a computerized database system are speed, accuracy, and accessibility.
In 1977, Larry Ellison, Bob Miner, and Ed Oates founded System Development Laboratories. After being inspired by a research paper written in 1970 by an IBM researcher titled “A Relational Model of Data for Large Shared Data Banks” they decided to build a new type of database called a relational database system. The original project on the relational database system was for the government (Central Intelligence Agency) and was dubbed ‘Oracle.’ They thought this would be appropriate because the meaning of Oracle is source of wisdom.
As Neal Gabler put it, “We also collected information to convert it into something larger than facts and ultimately more useful—into ideas that made sense of the information.” Today, with the help of technology, information can be accessed in an instant, and
[7] Elmasri & Navathe. Fundamentals of database systems, 4th edition. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City, CA. 2004.
With today’s rate of development in technology, there has also been an immense increase in global information sharing. Innovations in technology and design seem to be emerging in the market almost every month. One of the key aspects of any business is to gather, organize and efficiently apply this information. According to Antonic (2005), economic assets are fast becoming of secondary importance in the market as companies ascribe more importance to intellectual capital. With the right application of Knowledge Management methods, companies can achieve a competitive advantage through managing the immense amount of information available (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2002).
The effectiveness of any knowledge management practice will depend on the effective utilization of people, processes and systems (technologies). These are the three fundamental focuses, facets, elements or components of knowledge management which works in relation to one another to achieve any knowledge management objective(s). Every knowledge management practice must therefore put these elements in place to achieve a successful outcome; hence they are referred to the tripartite nature of knowledge management for the purpose of this paper.
A data dictionary is a place where the DBMS stores definitions of the data elements and their metadata. All programs that access the data in the database will work through the DBMS. It uses the data dictionary to look up the required data component structures and relationships, thus the users do not have to code such complex relationships in each program. In addition, any changes made in database structure will be automatically recorded in the data dictionary, thereby freeing the users from having to modify all the programs that access the changed structure.
Technology changes, information management problems remain the same (Etzel and Thomas 1996). For some people, the problem is one of access--being "ex-communicated" from the information society by the economics of information technology (Fortner 1995). For others, the problem is coping with information satiation. The abundance of information channels and sources forces people to choose among an excess of options, or else they choose to concentrate on a limited but more manageable data stream (ibid.). This problem is compounded by the chronic fear of incompleteness or the intimidation of learning the mechanics of hardware and software use (Haywood 1997). In the pre-Web world, library classification systems enabled information seekers to experience both specificity and serendipity. Now, the Web has lots of serendipity but achieving specificity is more difficult (ibid.).
of multiple types of end users. The data is stored in one location so that they
Databases are becoming as common in the workplace as the stapler. Businesses use databases to keep track of payroll, vacations, inventory, and a multitude of other taske of which are to vast to mention here. Basically businesses use databases anytime a large amount of data must be stored in such a manor that it can easily be searched, categorized and recalled in different means that can be easily read and understood by the end user. Databases are used extensively where I work. In fact, since Hyperion Solutions is a database and financial intelligence software developing company we produce one. To keep the material within scope I shall narrow the use of databases down to what we use just in the Orlando office of Hyperion Solutions alone.
The computer evolution has been an amazing one. There have been astonishing achievements in the computer industry, which dates back almost 2000 years. The earliest existence of the computer dates back to the first century, but the electronic computer has only been around for over a half-century. Throughout the last 40 years computers have changed drastically. They have greatly impacted the American lifestyle. A computer can be found in nearly every business and one out of every two households (Hall, 156). Our Society relies critically on computers for almost all of their daily operations and processes. Only once in a lifetime will a new invention like the computer come about.
Once the logical view of the documents is defined, the database manager (using the DB Manager Module) builds an index of the text. An index is a critical data structure because it allows fast searching over large volumes of data. Different index structures might be used, but the most popular one is the inverted file as indicated in Figure . The resources (time and storage space) spent on defining the text database and building the index are amortized by querying the retrieval system many
The database application design can be improved in a number of ways as described below:
The DBMS has a function that can be differentiate from the information retrieval system. The DBMS have the ability to store, update and retrieve the data. This is the main function of the DBMS because the database can be used if there is any record is being stored into the database. The record need to be retrieve first, then it can be change by the database administrator as it will be the record has been updated. The DBMS will protect the structure of the data structure.