Tracy R Reed wrote:
In my opinion a database is just a store of information. Since most things in computer science deal with stores of information I can see how this idea would come up often.
By your definition, Excel spreadsheets, hash tables or RAM memory are databases. Most people I know of would not call those databases.
What I don't see is why you take such exception to it. You seem to have greatly overloaded the concept of "database" far beyond what it is traditionally ascribed.
I think you may have "underloaded" the concept. With your definition, the statement "X is a special case of a database" is a conundrum for all kinds of data storage.
Normally the distinction that causes the word "database" to appear is the word "record". I recall that Appleworks indeed had "records". It did not need to worry about transactions or throughput because it was single user.
The loosest definition of database I have seen is "datastore with records". For example, many of the various key/value configuration files get referred to as a database.
The moment multiuser access to records becomes an issue, the word "locks" hits the scene. This is generally where most people I know of start thinking about things as a "database".
However, when most people say the word "database", they generally are referring to a "relational database". This is often when the "X is a special case of a database" statement appears. Relational databases have quite clear definitions and properties. Very rarely do those properties mesh well outside of being a relational database.
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