Review of Tech Info, Again

User-interface: human-machine connection. The look and feel of the computing experience, from a human point of view.

UNIX remains the dominant OS for Internet servers.
Basic functions of a computer: input, process, output, storage.

A bit is a binary digit- the smallest unit of information- on or off (0 or 1), can represent numbers, codes, or instructions.
Byte: collection is 8 bits.
Gigabyte: 1 Billion bytes
Kilobyte: 1 Thousand bytes
Megabytes: 1 Million bytes
Hierarchy of data: bits, bytes, fields, records, tables, then databases.

Knowledge, the ability to make decisions based on data we have.

Database: collection of stored operational data used by the application systems of some particular enterprise.

Also: a collection of tables with relationships between the tables.
Table: a collection of records or documents dealing with one organization, person, area or subject.

File Systems preceeded Databases...problems with file systems: inconsistent data, inflexibility, limited data sharing, poor enforcement of standards, excessive program maintenance.

Database Management System (DBMS) Advantages: make it easier to store large quantities of information, make it easier to retrieve info quickly and flexibly, make it easy to organize and reorganize information, and make it easy to print and distribute informat a of ways.
It also minimizes data redundancy, ensures consistency and integration of data, accessibility and responsiveness, data independence, ease of application development, reduced program maintenance, and sharing of data.

Database operations: import, browse, query, sort; print reports, labels, and form letters.

XML is newest, most powerful data description language... a way to structure your html to communicate with a database. It's designed with industrial-strength database access in mind.

PC-based database, and client-server databases, also database web application, and one more: distributed database.