Essay on Chapter 2 Summary

Submitted By jtaylorii
Words: 335
Pages: 2

Chapter 2, which is titled Database Types, is about the different types of databases and the different types of data that databases can store. The book defines database as a tool that stores data, and lets you create, read, update and delete the data in some manner. I thought that this definition was very broad at first but after reading more it began to make sense. Chapter 2 also discusses what kinds if databases are most common. I learned that the relational database is by far the most popular type of database used; yet there are numerous others that are more ideal for certain situations. The different types of databases included flat files, spreadsheets, hierarchal databases and object databases. This chapter also explored the strengths and weaknesses of these different databases.
I learned that flat file databases work better if values are small, static and if you want to keep track of previous values. Flat files are not ideal if you need to perform complex searches through the values, values change often or if you don’t want others to be able to view and modify the values easily. In addition, Chapter 2 tells us the strengths of the popular relational database are that they allow difficult queries and joins among different tables but they don’t work well if a special data topology is needed to the perform the application primary function.
The type of database that I found most interesting was the hierarchal databases. I found interesting because of how reliant