2. Why use a database?

There are a number of reasons why a database is often the most suitable application for storing information.

Vast amounts of information can be stored.

Bank customers often have more than one type of account, they might have a current account, a savings account, an ISA etc. Within each of these accounts, there will be a number of transactions taking place on a regular basis. Money will be paid in and money withdrawn.

The bank needs to be able to store details of every single transaction which takes place, what time it happened, how much money was involved, who was paid etc. Multiply this by millions of customers and you soon have a huge database with an immense amount of data that needs to be stored.

Queries can be run to search for specific records or groups of records.

Again, let's go back to our bank example. A customer telephones the bank to complain that money has been taken out of their account without their knowledge or permission.

The bank needs to be able to search its database very quickly to find the customer's account, the transaction and the details involved.

With a computerised database, this can all be done in a matter of seconds.