also spelled DATA BASE, also called ELECTRONIC DATABASE, any collection of data, or information, that is specially organized for rapid search and retrieval by a computer. Databases are structured to facilitate the storage, retrieval, modification, and deletion of data in conjunction with various da...

Whether looking up a customer's account, checking to see what's in stock or verifying a price, virtually all enterprise applications need to extract data from more than one source. And to meet the demands of their users, applications must retrieve the data quickly, deliver it in a form tha...