Create a Database

Database software helps us to store data in a structured and organised way.

Storing Data

When creating a database to store data we must first decide what data we want to store, and then what type of data it is so it can be stored in the correct way.

We already know that when we store data on a computer it must be stored as binary (0s and 1s).

Numbers can be converted from decimal to binary.

Text & characters can be converted (using ASCII) to numbers then binary.

The problem with this is that when storing data in one byte, 000000101 and 00110101 could both be used to store 5.

So the computer needs to know which we are going to use.

When we decide what data we want to store we must create a place to store it in our database. This space is called a field.

Each field is used to store one item of data e.g someone's age.

When we create a database we must tell it what data type it is so that the computer can store it in the correct (binary) format.

How to create a database