Re: What is a database?

On 2013-12-02, Jan Hidders <hidders_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2013-11-30 17:51:50 +0000, Eric said:
>
>> No, seriously, what is your short, accurate definition of the word
>> "database" (in, but not necessarily restricted to, a computer context)?
>
> I have several. It depends on the circumstances, who I am talking to
> and what subject I am teaching. Note that there is no such thing as a
> wrong definition. A definition is just a statement clarifying what you
> mean with the concept X. It can only be wrong if it does not correctly
> represent what you have in mind if you use the term X. So it all
> depends on you. It could be, and I'm guessing, that what you are really
> asking is how community Y (e.g. database researchers) defines the
> concept X.
>
> So what do you need that definition for?

Fair question. I found what I consider to be a rather dubious definition. It's in a wiki, and I could replace it, but I thought I would see what ideas I could find before going for my own replacement. I don't want to quote the dubious definition yet since then people would be inclined to just respond to that.

It's reasonable to want some more context too. The context is definitely programming, but somE proportion of the audience are doing minor ad-hoc projects, or things in very specialised niches, or just playing about, rather that writing serious applications. I suspect that many in all of those categories do not have much of a clue about databases.

Eric

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