How do you explain a database?

Answer 1

A database is a server, or storage spot were information is stored. The stored information can range from user information to settings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database

Answer 2

A database is a set of data, which may either be a simple table of values (much like an array), or a more complex series of tables that form relationships with one another (like a hierarchy of objects).

A database value is simply a record, much like a C-style structure that has one or more data members. A data member may contain a value (a number, string or other object), or it may refer to a record within another related table. For instance, a list of names and address may be split into two tables, one for the addresses, the other for the people who live at those addresses. Thus a husband and wife, for instance, will typically share the same address, thus avoiding the need to enter the same address twice. The name table simply refers to the appropriate record in the address table.

Databases can also include queries or scripts -- small programs -- that aid in both locating subsets of the data and in producing reports. SQL (pronounced sequel), is the most popular database system, and the name is derived from the Structured Query Language that empowers the database.

Databases also include security protocols that permit or deny access to both users and to external programs, including other databases, as well as provide a suite of system tools that allow, amongst other things, to backup and restore data, and to check data in and out of the database when multiple users need to modify that data (thus preventing two users modifying the same data at the same time).

Databases may also include user-friendly interfaces, however (access permitting) external programs can be used to make use of the data (as variables for instance) or to generate scripts that require more complex processing than that provided by the built-in database scripts alone, or indeed to provide a complete interface to the data.