Learning the jargon

Before turning to the computer, you review the documentation that accompanies the program and become familiar with the terminology, or jar­gon, of a DBMS. You learn three important words: field, record, and file.

Field. Afield is a single category of information in your data base. It c an made up of numbers, letters, or a combination of numbers and letters. You look at a catalogue card in your current data base and identify eleven fields, including type of movie, movie title, and call number.

Record. A record is a collection of fields. Each catalogue card with all its entries about a single movie is a record. Since your catalogue currently consists of title and subject cards, you have two records for each movie listed in your data base.

File. A file is a collection of related records. Your subject catalogue is one file; your title catalogue is another. Your DBMS will eliminate duplicate records and combine the two files.

While every data base consists of fields, records, and files, some can handle more data than others. Say that this particular program allows 65 characters in a field, 12 fields in a record, and 300 records in a file. Each letter, number, or space in an entry counts as one character. You note that in setting up your DBMS you'll have to shorten the descriptions of the movies.

7. Translate in English:

- електронні файли;

- система управління бази даних;

- для того, щоб;

- бути відповідальним за;

- мати доступ до;

- заголовок бази даних;

- поточні дані;

- визначати поля;

- заголовок кадра;

- збірка полів;

- одиничний кадр;

- предметна картка;

- перелічений в базі даних;

- збірка взаємно пов’язаних записів;

- усувати записи;

- поєднувати файли;

- регулювати дані;

- ввід;

- скорочувати опис кадрів.

8. What will you have to shorten in setting up your DBMS? Why? Answer the questions:

1. What should a computer user learn before setting up a DBMS?

2. What is a field and what it is made of?

3. What should you identify in your current data base?

4. What is a record and what it is used for?

5. What kind of task does a DBMS perform while forming a file?

6. What devices do you use in setting up a DBMS?

7. Can you explain in English the sequence of this operation?