2. Introduction to DBMS

What is a DBMS?

A DBMS (Database Management System) is a piece of software to help you manage and interact with a database
The DBMS is what provides the tools to add new data and retrieve old data from an existing database
By providing the tools to work with the database, the DBMS inadvertently also provides the controls to ensure data integrity in a database
Some common examples of a DBMS are: MySQL, DynamoDB, MongoDB and PostgreSQL

Commonly, you’ll hear the terms thrown around almost interchangably
For the most part, practically speaking, differentiating between the two doesn’t really matter.
The major difference is that the DBMS is the software you interact with to work with your database
The database is really just the stored, structured data itself

Thinking back to our filing cabinet example from before, how would a DBMS work for that database?
Think of the DBMS as the filing clerk who manages the filing cabinet
- Organizing Files: The filing clerk organizes and labels the folders in an orderly manner so they are easy to find.
- Retrieving Information: When you need to find a student’s grades or a teacher’s schedule, the clerk retrieves the correct files.
- Updating Records: The clerk updates the files with new information, such as adding new grades or updating contact details.
- Ensuring Accuracy: The clerk ensures that each file is correctly placed and that no information is lost or misfiled.

Like our clerk, we need a DBMS to make it easier for us to access our data
A DBMS controls what data our database can have, how the data must be entered and provides us with a way to work with the data in a (relatively) convenient way

To be clear, even though there is a difference between the two, we won’t be differentiating much after this lecture
Due to how intertwined the two have become, people have been referring to their DBMS as their database for years
Practically, the differences between the two aren’t overly important so we won’t be stressing them here