DATABASE VOCABULARY

ASCENDING ORDER -- Organizing or sorting information in order from smallest to largest, or A-Z or 1-9.

DATABASE – A software application that helps manage large collections of information. A simple database might be a single file containing many records, with the same set of fields. Data can be sorted and searched by one or more criteria.

DESCENDING ORDER -- Organizing or sorting information in order from largest to smallest, Z-A or 9-1.

ENTRY – Data that is keyed in a fleld. An example of an entry would be a phone number that is typed in a “phone number” field.

FIELD -- A place in a database record where a category of information can be entered or located.

FILE -- A set of related records in a database

RECORD -- A collection of related field and entries.

RELATIONSHIP -- The comparison of two pieces of information using logical operators: less than (<), greater than (>), equals (=), less than or equal to (=<), greater than or equal to (=>). Other comparison terms to look for are “at most,” meaning less than or equal to, and “at least,” which translates as equal to or greater than.

SEARCH -- The process of finding all records of a database that meet a certain rule, statement, or criterion. A search may be based on a single statement, rule, or criterion, or a combination of statements, rules, and criteria joined by AND, OR, and AND/OR. This process is also called a query or match in some database software programs.

SORT -- Arranging information in a specific order (usually ascending and descending).