The Role of Databases in Computer Science/Informational Systems
Databases play an integral role in computer science. Regardless of the field in STEM, we all will interact with databases at some point. Chances are that we all use some in our everyday lives. But what is a database and how can we use them to improve our exploration of STEM?
A database is a collection of data that is stored electronically. The notable aspects of databases are that they are always organized and arranged in some structure. These could be basic representations like tables or be more similar to data structures like stacks and queues used in computer science. Don’t worry about not knowing these; a data structure is just a database in temporary computer memory.
Databases can be created, manipulated (or “changed”), and deleted using a database management system (DBMS). This is like a programming language but for database creation, not writing programs. The similarities of databases and programs are noteworthy. SQL is a programming language that is well-known for its application in improving the usability of databases. Navigational and network databases were initially created to manage data that connected in “branches” (think of a family tree). This was relevant to FORTRAN and other programming languages used primarily for bookkeeping. As developers shifted to structured programming, relational databases were found to work best with SQL and other languages like C (the basis of most modern languages like C++, Java, Python, and many more).
Now you are probably wondering how we can use databases outside of the world of programming to manage large amounts of detailed data. Fields such as data science rely on databases for research and data collection. Programs like Excel are used to create low-level databases and visualizations to correspond with the information provided. As the data we collect becomes more complicated and the fields we explore broaden, we can gain deeper understandings using easy-to-create databases that increase the speed of managing large amounts of information.
