Database Management(英文版)(ppt 25页)

Database Management(英文版)内容提要：
A database consists of a file or a set of files. The information in these files may be broken down into records, each of which consists of one or more fields. Fields are the basic units of data storage, and each field typically contains information pertaining to one aspect or attribute of the entity described by the database. Using keywords and various sorting commands, users can rapidly search, rearrange, group, and select the fields in many records to retrieve or create reports on particular aggregates of data.
一个数据库由一个文件或文件集合组成。这些文件中的信息可分解成一个个记录，每个记录有一个或多个域。域是数据存储的基本单位，每个域一般含有由数据库描述的属于实体的一个方面或一个特性的信息。用户使用键盘和各种排序命令，能够快速查找、重排、分组并在查找的许多记录中选择相应的域，建立特定集上的报表。
Database records and files must be organized to allow retrieval of the information. Early systems were arranged sequentially (i.e., alphabetically, numerically, or chronologically); the development of direct-access storage devices made possible random access to data via indexes. Queries are the main way users retrieve database information. Typically, the user provides a string of characters, and the computer searches the database for a corresponding sequence and provides the source materials in which those characters appear. A user can request, for example, all records in which the content of the field for a person’s last name is the word Smith.
数据库记录和文件的组织必须确保能对信息进行检索。早期的系统是顺序组织的（如：字母顺序、数字顺序或时间顺序）；直接访问存储设备的研制成功使得通过索引随机访问数据成为可能。用户检索数据库信息的主要方法是query(查询)。通常情况下，用户提供一个字符串，计算机在数据库中寻找相应的字符序列，并且给出字符串在何处出现。比如，用户能够在所有记录中寻找所有last name域为Smith的记录。