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The Epic Interactive Encyclopedia 1998
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Epic Interactive Encyclopedia, The - 1998 Edition (1998)(Epic Marketing).iso
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Database
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INFOTEXT
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1992-09-03
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In computing, a structured collection of
data. The database makes data available to
the various programs that need it, without
those programs needing to be aware of how the
data are actually stored. There are three
main types (or `models'): hierarchical,
network, and relational, of which relational
is the most widely used. A free-text database
is one that holds the text of articles or
books in a form that permits rapid searching.
A telephone directory stored as a database
might allow all the people whose names start
with the letter B to be selected by one
program, and all those living in London by
another. A collection of databases is known
as a databank. A database-management system
(DBMS) program ensures that the integrity of
the data is maintained by controlling the
degree of access of the application programs
using the data. Databases are normally used
by large organizations with mainframes or
minicomputers.