2007 Microsoft® Office System Plain & Simple

What is a Relational Database?

Storing Data on Index Cards

Before computers, a popular way to store data was on index cards. If you ran a gardening supply store, you could keep track of your products by creating a card for each product, dividing the cards into product categories, and then alphabetizing the cards in each section by product name. Each card would contain relevant data such as the product’s name, unique identifier, category, price, description, and the supplier’s name and phone number.

To find all of the products from a specific supplier, you either needed to keep track of the products on a separate sheet of paper or go through the cards ...