Oracle

Oracle- Database Management System

Data management is an extraordinarily old craft. Aristotle's scheme of interlocking classifications of knowledge in his work Physica is a data-management effort. In the early 1800s the Jacquard loom used holes punched in paper cards to represent instructions for controlling the action of a loom. These cards became the basis for Herman Hollerith's card-sorting device, used for the 1890 U.S. census http://80-gme.grolier.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com. Many database programs were designed around the physical cards: the maximum information that could be encoded on a punch card became the length of a standard record. In 1970 Ted Codd researched and documented for IBM a "mathematically consistent and complete way of managing and retrieving information." This research provided what is known today as "the relational model of data for large shared databanks." http://www.oracle.com/corporate/investor_relations/news/history.htm.

To make it possible to create databases with customized menus and specialized forms, database management programs emerged. The Oracle Corporation, the second largest independent software company, was founded in 1977 by Larry Ellison, Oracle's current Chairman, President and CEO, Bob Miner (died in 1994) and Ed Oates, who currently serves as advisor for several startups. Under the original moniker, Relational Software Inc., or RSI, Ellison, Miner and Oates created the first commercial SQL (Structured Query Language) database - V2 - based entirely on published research by IBM. http://160.111.7.240/resource/tours/comphist/le1.html Oracle is one of the largest software developers and leading manufacturers of database management systems (DBMS) utilized in many if not all computer processing. What is a database? Simply stated, a database is a compilation of information that has been organized or grouped. Databases are created to control and manage organized information. Databases are usually constructed on computers, but an elaborate paper filing system is also a type of database. Examples of paper databases are encyclopedias, telephone listings, or MLA listings. DBMS allow users to create, update, and extract information from their databases (http://www.islandnet.com/~tmc/html/articles/orareln.htm). In addition to Oracle, other examples of electronic database management systems are dBase, Paradox, and IMS. Database management systems are software packages designed to store and manage data. Oracle is a database management system set up to achieve user efficiency. Original databases lacked standardization; data could only be moved between databases created with the same data-management software http://80-gme.grolier.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com. Advantages of DBMS are easy and quick retrieval of information, effortless manipulation of information to assist with reporting in any order, control of data (which fields and records) are displayed at any one time. Database standards began to emerge in the late 1970s; it's now common to move large quantities of data from one program to another. DBMS ensure data availability, quick application development, and crash recovery. Utilizing DBMS also ensures simultaneous execution of multiple programs.

"In 1976 computer software designer Wayne Ratliff, working at the NASA Ames Research Center, began to design a construction kit program for building databases on personal computers" http://80-gme.grolier.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com. Its most valuable component was the dbase procedural language, based in part on DB2, a mainframe database. dbase became one of the top selling computer programs for personal use. Dozens of database management programs are now available with their own procedural languages built in. Oracle's eccentric, often outspoken CEO, offered the most recent one million dollar "bet-the-company strategy." He challenged companies to try Oracle9i Application server and 8i Database and to promote their capabilities they ran web sites faster than the IBM DB2 or Microsoft SQL servers. If within three months they are successful he'll give that company one million dollars http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?VAR20010122S0030.

Oracle saves records relating to each other in a table. Every table has a field or a combination of fields that uniquely identifies each record in the table. The field names of each record in the table are the same, although the field values may differ. (http://www.islandnet.com/~tmc/html/articles/orareln.htm) An Oracle database is basically tables grouped together, uniquely identified by a primary key, or simply a key. The primary key provides the means to identify, locate, and refer to one particular record in the table. The database design team determines the best candidate field for the primary key. Oracle DBMS won't allow more than one record in the table with the same value for the primary key. (http://www.islandnet.com/~tmc/html/articles/orareln.htm). When a field in one table matches the primary key of another table, the field is referred to as a foreign key http://www.islandnet.com/~tmc/html/articles/orareln.htm). Oracle maintains consistency by linking multiple tables which prevents a user from deleting a table that still contains valid fields.

Database management systems transfer data from a disk to the main memory or what is called the Random Access Memory (RAM). RAM, named because a computer user can quickly go to any part of the main memory to reach the desired data. The computer can manipulate only data that is in main memory. Therefore, every program and file that you access must be copied from a storage device into the main memory. The amount of main memory on a computer is crucial because it determines how many programs can be executed and how much data is readily available to a program. RAM is used to store data or instructions temporarily, while they are being used or changed by the user. For example, a letter being created using a word-processing program or a game being played is stored in RAM. The larger the capacity of RAM, the greater the number of bytes it can hold the more efficient the computer. Higher amounts of RAM make it possible for a user to have several programs open simultaneously, and to perform memory-intensive tasks such as editing digital video. The reasons why DBMS provide these capabilities are because the main memory is volatile. By the early 2000s, typical personal computers being sold had between 256 megabytes (million bytes) and 1 gigabyte (trillion bytes) of RAM http://80-gme.grolier.com.ezproxy.apollolibrary.com. Most RAM is volatile, which means that it requires a steady flow of electricity to maintain its contents. As soon as the power is turned off, data stored in RAM is lost.

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