A Brief Guide to Databases
A database provides infrastructure for storing, managing, and retrieving information.
Tables, Records, and Attributes
Databases store information in tables. A database usually has multiple tables containing data on different types of things.
Each table in the database can be broken down into rows and columns, like a spreadsheet.
Rows, or records, represent one instance of the type of item described in the table.
Columns, or attributes, are the aspects of the item that we are collecting information on.
Example
Here's an example of a table in a database containing information about some books. Each record represents a book, and the attributes that we are collecting information on are the ISBN, the title, the author, the publication date, and whether a Kindle version is available.
| Title | Author | ISBN | Publication date | Kindle version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse as a Model Organism: From Animals to Cells | Cord Brakebusch and Taina Pihlajaniemi | 9400707495 | Apr 2011 | 1 |
| Evolutionary Ecology of Social and Sexual Systems: Crustaceans As Model Organisms | J. Emmett Duffy and Martin Thiel | 0879698659 | Sep 2007 | 1 |
| Emerging Model Organisms: A Laboratory Manual, Volume 2 | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | 0879698721 | Apr 2011 | 0 |
| Emerging Model Organisms: A Laboratory Manual, Volume 1 | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | 0805074589 | Nov 2008 | 0 |
| A Feeling for the Organism, 10th Aniversary Edition: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock | Evelyn Fox Keller | 0898715547 | Feb 1984 | 0 |
Keys
In a database table, certain attributes (columns) are keys. Keys are used to identify records (rows) and link records together.
A primary key uniquely identifies a record in a database table; the attribute to be the primary key would usually be decided when the database schema is being designed, rather than waiting until after the database has been populated. Some database tables contain more than attribute that can uniquely identify a record. These extra unique keys are alternate keys.
In a relational database, tables are linked together by using the primary key from one table in a related table. The primary key then becomes a foreign key.
Example
Looking at our previous example of the book database, the ISBN is the primary key in this database table. The title could be used as an alternate key, but given how common some book titles are, it would not be a good long term strategy.
| Title | Author | ISBN | Publication date | Kindle version |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mouse as a Model Organism: From Animals to Cells | Cord Brakebusch and Taina Pihlajaniemi | 9400707495 | Apr 2011 | 1 |
| Evolutionary Ecology of Social and Sexual Systems: Crustaceans As Model Organisms | J. Emmett Duffy and Martin Thiel | 0879698659 | Sep 2007 | 1 |
| Emerging Model Organisms: A Laboratory Manual, Volume 2 | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | 0879698721 | Apr 2011 | 0 |
| Emerging Model Organisms: A Laboratory Manual, Volume 1 | Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press | 0805074589 | Nov 2008 | 0 |
| A Feeling for the Organism, 10th Aniversary Edition: The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock | Evelyn Fox Keller | 0898715547 | Feb 1984 | 0 |
If we now imagine a second table with book prices in it:
| ISBN | Format | Price ($) |
|---|---|---|
| 9400707495 | Hardback | 189.00 |
| 9400707495 | Ebook | 151.20 |
| 0879698659 | Hardback | 59.99 |
| 0879698659 | Paperback | 14.99 |
| 0879698659 | Ebook | 34.99 |
| 0879698721 | Hardback | 234.00 |
| 0879698721 | Paperback | 134.00 |
| 0805074589 | Hardback | 234.00 |
| 0805074589 | Paperback | 129.00 |
| 0898715547 | Hardback | 64.99 |
This table has no primary keys, and the ISBN is acting as a foreign key.
If we look at an individual record from each table, we can see how the two tables relate to each other.
| Title | Mouse as a Model Organism: From Animals to Cells |
| Author | Cord Brakebusch and Taina Pihlajaniemi |
| ISBN | 9400707495 |
| Publication date | Apr 2011 |
| Kindle version | 1 |
| ISBN | 9400707495 |
| format | Hardback |
| price | 189.00 |
