Databases: Tables, Rows, and Columns

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Introduces some basic relational database terminology.

Tables

A database table is just that, a table with rows and columns. Different tables contain information about different types of things.

Rows

Each row in a database table represents one instance of the type of object described in that table. A row is also called a record.

Columns

The columns in a table are the set of facts that we keep track of about that type of object. A column is also called an attribute.

Example

The Instructors table.

Instructors Table
Columns / Attributes
Rows /

Records
Participant Affiliation Email
Scott Cain Ontario Institute for Cancer Research scott@scottcain.net
Tim Carver Sanger Institute tjc@sanger.ac.uk
Dave Clements NESCent clements@nescent.org
Stephen Ficklin Clemson University ficklin@clemson.edu
Syed Haider EBI syed@ebi.ac.uk
Ian Holmes UC Berkeley ihh@berkeley.edu
Carson Holt University of Utah carson.holt@utah.ed
Robin Houston Sanger Institute rh11@sanger.ac.uk
Ed Lee Lawrence Berkeley National Lab elee@berkeleybop.org
Sheldon McKay Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory mckays@cshl.edu
Joshua Orvis Institute for Genome Sciences jorvis@som.umaryland.edu
Mitch Skinner UC Berkeley mitch_skinner@berkeley.edu
Giles Velarde Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute gv1@sanger.ac.uk
Junjun Zhang Ontario Institute for Cancer Research Junjun.Zhang@oicr.on.ca