What is a Database?

Abstract

A database is really nothing more than an electronic card index. Not very many years ago all information was stored on filing cards or in loose-leaf folders. Information was retrieved by thumbing through the entire file and extracting the information you required. This was a long and laborious method of information retrieval. With the appearance of computers the information previously stored, particularly on the punched cards used in office accounting since the early twentieth century, could be accessed rapidly and reports on that information printed out far faster than was ever possible before. Eventually when large-scale computer storage of data became practical and cheap it was possible to store very large amounts of information “on-line”, that is, immediately available, rather than stored away in boxes and filing cabinets.