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What Is a Relational Database?

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The term database means different things to different people. For many years, in the world of xBase (that is, dBASE, FoxPro, CA-Clipper), database was used to describe a collection of fields and records. (Access refers to this type of collection as a table.) In a client/server environment, database refers to all the data, schema, indexes, rules, triggers, and stored procedures associated with a system. In Access terms, a database is a collection of all the tables, queries, forms, data access pages, reports, macros, and modules that compose a complete system. Relational refers to the fact that the tables that comprise the database relate to one another.

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