Why You Should Use a Database

Now, the point I want to drive home with this is that, storing a database, storing a collection of related information on a computer, is extremely useful. And computers are actually great for storing databases.

So, I have here two things. We have Amazon vs a Shopping list.

So, these are two examples of situations where we have a database. We talked about how a shopping list is a database. It is a collection of related information. A collection of products you want to buy from the store.

Amazon.com is also a database. Amazon stores all these product information and all user information. They store reviews on the products, the prices of the products, and all this information.

So, let us take a look and we will compare and contrast these two databases and we will see why computers are the preferred medium for storing data.

So, amazon.com keeps track of products, reviews, credit card users, media etc. Amazon is keeping track of so much information. Trillions of pieces of information need to be stored and be readily available.

Over here we have a shopping list. A shopping list keeps track of consumer products that need to be purchased. We are talking 10 to 20 pieces of information need to be stored and readily available.

So Amazon, we need to store trillions of pieces of information. With a shopping list, we need to store 10 or 20 pieces of information.

Both of these are databases, but the one we have trillions of stuff. The other one, we have 10 to 20 things.

Over here at Amazon, the information on Amazon is extremely valuable, critical to Amazon.com functioning.

So, the information that Amazon is storing in its database is absolutely essential.

And, another thing is that security is essential, right? Amazon stores people’s personal information like social security number, credit cards, addresses, phone numbers. Like, that information needs to be locked down and secure.

A shopping list on the other end, the information is for convenience sake only, right? It is not absolutely necessary for shopping. Like, if you did not have a shopping list, you could still go to the store, and for the most part, be able to find everything that you need.

Also with the shopping list, security is just not important at all. You drop your shopping list on the ground, if someone else was to pick it up, it is not a big deal. It is a shopping list.

Finally, over here on Amazon, the information is stored on a computer. Whereas with the shopping list, the information is stored maybe on a piece of paper or it could even be stored in someone’s memory, right? So, maybe you just memorized your shopping list. And that is where you are storing your shopping list database.

So, what I am trying to show you guys is that a database doesn’t just have to be on a computer. It doesn’t just have to be on your memory or a piece of paper. Databases are in all of these different environments.

But, here is the thing. For an application like Amazon, storing information on something like a computer makes it easy to store trillions of pieces of information and to secure the data and make sure that security is taken care of. It also makes it easy to back up that information, duplicate that information, and store that information on a different computer.

So, the main point of this section is that computers are great at keeping track of large amounts of information. So, going forward, we are going to be talking about how can we create databases on computers because computers are so good at storing that information.

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Other than that, Happy coding!