A comprehensive collection of related data organized for convenient access, generally associated with software to update and query the data.
From Wikipedia:
A database is an organized collection of data. The data is typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality (for example, the availability of rooms in hotels), in a way that supports processes requiring this information (for example, finding a hotel with vacancies).
A large proportion of websites and applications rely on databases. They are a crucial component of telecommunications systems, banking systems, video games, and just about any other software system or electronic device that maintains some amount of persistent information. In addition to persistence, database systems provide a number of other properties that make them exceptionally useful and convenient: reliability, efficiency, scalability, concurrency control, data abstraction, and high-level query languages. Databases are so ubiquitous and important that computer science graduates frequently cite their database class as the one most useful to them in their industry or graduate-school careers.2
The term database should not be confused with Database Management System (DBMS). A DBMS is the system software used to create and manage databases and provide users and applications with access to the database(s). A database is to a DBMS as a document is to a word processor.
Some useful references:
- What is database? from Database Administrators SE.
- design
- managing a database
- tuning of a database
- database security
- Database connections
- Database normalization
