Database Terminology

• A character is the basic unit of data, and it can be a letter, number or special symbol
  • A group of related characters (for example, the characters that make up a customer's name) is called a field)
• A field represents one attribute or characteristic (the name, for instance) of the customer.
• A collection of fields about one customer (for example, name, address, city, state, and zip) is called a record
• A group of records about the same type of entity (such as customers or inventory items) is stored in a file.
• A collection of interrelated files-such as those relating to customers, their purchases, and their payments- is stored in a database.