The collection of information into organized bundles has been with us for a long time, but computing technology has made the management and manipulation of databases far more practical than it has ever been in the past.
The software used to create and maintain databases is called database management systems, and these systems come in a number of levels of complexity ranging from read - only databases and pre-defined databases to complex programming languages.
Databases are organized into tables, which are collections of records. One record describes one discrete entity. The properties which describe a record are known as fields. A field is defined using a specific data type. Records are sorted by indexes, which are related to one or more key fields.
The main types of tools one might find in a DBMS relate to the principle jobs of such a system. Data definition is the creation of new tables, records, fields, and indices. Data manipulation is the act of entering information into an existing database. Querying is using special tools or languages to ask for sub sets of the data in the database, and reports are output for the printer or screen which format the information nicely.