Data, tables, and normalization
The primary purpose of a database is to store data. Data is information, usually text-based, but not always, and this data could be anything from a company phone directory, to patient medical information, to an auto parts list, or even reviews of gourmet hot sauces complete with pictures of the bottles.
Database servers such as MariaDB store information, no matter what it is, in a structure called a table. Tables are two-dimensional data structures containing rows and columns. A row corresponds to a single record in a database and records are divided into columns. Think of database tables like a specialized spreadsheet.
The columns in a database can have relationships defined in one way or another. For example, the ...
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