ABSTRACT
One of the key elements of any information system is the data and how it is structured, stored, accessed, and maintained, in order to offer a reliable, flexible, and fast service. The database management system plays a key role in all these aspects. Databases have been around since computer systems started to manage large amounts of data. Initial applications, most of them related to “deductive question-answering systems”, had very application-dependent data banks, tailored to work for specific programs and with not many reusable elements. This fact halted standardization for many years. The design of a database depends exclusively on requirements of the information system being implemented. These requirements define the nature and use of the stored data and their relationships. Relational databases are the most commonly used databases. The main elements of a typical relational database, contextualized with the terms used in the Structured Query Language: table, column, row or register, key and foreign key, and view or query.
