Database
The term database has fallen into slack use lately since people define it differently. To some people, database is just any collection of data items while other defines it more strictly. However, database can be generally defined as a collection of interrelated data that is organize in such a way that records can easily be searched and retrieve. A record is a representation of an object, whether physical or conceptual. Say, for example, in keeping track on a school’s student number, name, address and course. The student number, name, address and so on are the data of individual student, which represent one record in the student record in the student table.
A database consists of both data and metadata. Metadata is a data that describes the data’s structure within a database. If you know how your data is arranged, then you can retrieve it. Because the database contains description of its own structure, it’s self describing. The database is integrated because it includes not only data items but also the relationship between data items.