A Short Introduction to Databases

the long version

The aim of this book is to explain how discrete items of information (data) e.g. names of individuals or organisations can be linked to other items of information e.g. addresses, dates of birth or amounts invoiced and how that information can be used to drive other processes or produce reports. To explain how databases may be constructed, I shall work through the creation and population of a database reporting football (soccer) leagues, a world-wide phenomenon and I hope, explicable to most adults (young and old). I also discuss protein sequences in genetic databases, DNA and RNA. You should be able to create and manage your own databases if the techniques I have discussed make sense to you.