The databases. A short introduction to the topic

Databases

Databases are at the same time one of the most and least used components. It is true that they are indispensable tools for information technology professionals. ButIn the case of users who work with their computer, it is possible to speak of underutilization. Unless they are in an application that includes it, for example, when browsing and commenting on this blog.

It is true that using a spreadsheet is more intuitive and there is more documentation available. Microsoft itself only published one book on Access and it is the one on preparing for the certification exam. Regarding LibreOffice Base, the available documentation (in English) reaches version 6.4.

However, the greater learning curve is compensated by the benefits since they are ideal for working with non-numerical data.

The databases What are they?

A database is a collection of data structured in a certain way and stored electronicallyand. By means of a program called the database manager, it is in charge of facilitating the addition, modification and elimination of the same. Some types of databases use a specific programming language that allows queries.

Classification

According to the location

  • Centralized database: It is located, stored and maintained in a single location. This does not mean that the user has to be in the same place to access.
  • Distributed database: This is actually different databases in different physical locationsThey are joined by a manager that makes them work as if they were one.

According to the way of establishing relationships between the data

  • Relational: In this type of database these they are organized in the form of rows and columns.
  • Object-oriented: Here the data is stored in the form of objects. These objects are saved in the database by assigning them attributes and methods that define what to do with the data.
  • Graph-oriented: Use the Graphic Schema Theory to store, map, and query relationships between data.
  • NoSQL: Allows unstructured data to be storedThey are semi-structured.
  • Document-oriented: It is a subtype of the previous one. Instead of storing the data in rows and columns it uses documents to store and retrieve the data. These documents organize the data using standards such as JSON or XML.

According to the orientation

  • OLTP: They are databases oriented to transaction processingis and includes data entry, modification and deletion functions.
  • OLAP: These databases are oriented to data analysis to allow conclusions to be drawn.

Other types

  • Autonomous: They are cloud-based and use machine learning to automate database work,  security, backups, updates and other routine management tasks performed by an administrator in traditional databases.
  • Data warehouse: It is a database focused on the corporate sector that integrates and purifies information from several different sources to process and analyze it dFrom different points of view at high speed.

Open vs. proprietary databases

It does not make sense in this blog to clarify what is the difference between the two. If it is interesting to see how the use of both is distributed. According to the most current statistics, of the 5 most used, 3 are open source. The good news is that two of the open source; PostgreSQL and MongoDB have seen impressive growth; 44,02% and 25,62% respectively.

The big beating was taken by Microsoft SQL server (proprietary) with a fall of 70,81% while the leading product, Oracle accumulates a decrease of 28,08%. MySQL, the most popular of the open source solutions, didn't fare too well either. with 24,28% on the scoreboard.

Anyway, this statistic you have to take it with tweezers. The sources for calculating the position of each database engine are:

  • Number of results in search engines.
  • Search frequency according to Google trends.
  • Number of queries on technology question and answer portals.
  • Number of job offers.
  • Frequency of mentions in professional profiles.
  • Number of mentions in social networks.

2 comments, leave yours

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  1.   George said

    Hello and good
    Excellent what you publish and share, we have and must learn every day.
    I agree with you that on many occasions the databases are not properly used.
    It really is a powerful tool in Access today there are various technologies and they do not take into account that everything is necessary.
    Dynamic webs are made, programming languages ​​are used to create and enter information, as well as extract it.
    But the Access domain is not taken into account as an application, its use in some sectors is practically nil.
    Hopefully everything improves because we still have a long way to go in knowledge.

    1.    Diego German Gonzalez said

      Thank you for your comment