There are literally an unlimited number of database variations available these days. They can, however, be separated into some general categories to help understand their function better. Every group has its fans and critics, but here we go.
When you think of the databases, the sheer volume of variations possible boggles the mind. Databases can be designed for just about any purpose and any time you have another variable, you could design a database to store and display it. The types of databases and their use range from sports statistics to the number of widgets stored in your various warehouses. They may be concerned with the collections of books in a library or the temperatures in your city for the last fifty years.
If you get away from the purpose or the nature of the data itself, you can divide databases into a couple of easy to understand types. One way to separate them is to consider manipulation of data. Two common types of data bases based on manipulation are the Analytic Data Base and the Operational Data Base. The Analytic Data Base stores the data in a form that is permanent and unchanging. The data is the data. An example would be the temperatures in your city for the last fifty years mentioned above. This data is fixed. The temperature on a given day two years ago is not going to change now. So, this data is not manipulated at all. It is accessed and displayed.
The Operational Data Base is concerned with data that does change. The number of widgets in your warehouse is an example of this. This data is constantly changing. When it is accessed and displayed, it is like a snapshot of the conditions at that very moment. An Operational Data Base may be changing constantly. It is possible to not only view the data frozen at the moment of access, but also to generate information about the change to the database itself. In other words a graph that shows widget sales could be generated by looking at the changes in warehouse levels over a given time frame.
Another way of looking at the different types of databases is to consider how they are organized. There are three types. The Flat File database is the older form and still is quite common. Data is stored in separate files and each file represents a separate entity and information is connected in any logical form. This means data could be repeated in several different files creating redundancy. The Hierarchical Data Base creates an organized structure to the data. It uses a concept of parent files broken down into "child" files, or sub-files
The Network File Database is the most complex and completely eliminates the problem of redundancy of information that plagues Flat File databases and was not completely eliminated by the development of hierarchical data bases. The problem with Network File Databases is they are very complex to establish and difficult to operate. At the present time, the general public is mostly unable to operate these systems and database professionals are needed. Work is going on to develop even better and easier to use database models and the future is bright for database design.
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