Review of Data Base System Terminology

摘要

Many publications, technical manuals, and marketing brochures related to databases originated from sources that exhibit a wide variety of training, background, and experience. Although the result has been an expanded technical vocabulary, the growth of standards, particularly with regard to a comprehensive, uniformly accepted terminology, has not kept pace with the growth in the technology itself. Consequently, the nomenclature used to describe various aspects of database technology is characterized, in some cases, by confusion and chaos. This is true for both homogeneous databases and for heterogeneous, distributed database systems. The state of imprecision in the nomenclature of this field persists across virtually all data models and their implementations. The purpose of this chapter is to highlight some areas of conflict and ambiguity and, in some cases, to suggest a more meaningful use of the terminology.