Records that share the same fields is called
a table because this kind of information can easily be
presented in table format: each column represents a field
and each row represents a record. In fact, the word column
is synonymous with
The building block of a database is the record.
A record is a collection of related data treated as a single
entity. For example, a hockey trading card could be called a
record: it brings together the name, photograph, team, and statistics
of one player. Using database terms, each of these related pieces
of information is called a field: each hockey card “record”
has a name field, a photograph field, a team field, and various
statistic fields.
A collection of records that share the same fields is called
a table because this kind of information can easily be presented
in table format: each column represents a field and each row
represents a record. In fact, the word column is synonymous
with the word field, and the word row is synonymous with the
word record.
A database can contain more than one table, each with a unique
name. These tables can be related or independent from one another.
A subset of data extracted from one or more tables is called
a recordset (or a DataSet in ASP.NET). A recordset is also a
table because it’s a collection of records that share the same
columns. For example, a hockey team roster listing the names
and positions of the players could be called a recordset: it
consists of a subset of all the possible information about the
players, including goals, assists, penalty minutes, and so on.