Wiley FileMaker Pro 8 Bible 978-0-471-77708-3 User Manual

efore exploring FileMaker Pro 8, you must understand
what a database is. A database is an organized collection

of information, usually with one central topic. In a computer
database (as opposed to a paper database), the program that
you use to enter and manipulate the data is either a database
program or a database management system (DBMS).

The word organized is a key part of this definition. Otherwise,
a shoebox stuffed with business receipts might be considered
a database. In general, if you must look at every scrap of data
until you find the one for which you’re searching, you don’t
have a database. You just have a shoebox full of stuff.

Even if you’ve never used a computer database management
system, you’re already familiar with many examples of paper
(and probably computer) databases:

✦ Address books and business card files

✦ TV schedules

✦ Employee records

✦ Recipe card files

✦ Telephone books

✦ Holiday greeting card lists

You also encounter special-purpose databases on your com-
puter all the time. For example, iTunes is a database that
tracks your music files and the information about them.
Likewise, iPhoto and Photoshop Album are both databases;
and your e-mail programs, such as Apple Mail or Microsoft
Outlook, are databases. Even the disk directories that keep
track of your hard disks’ files and their sizes, locations, and
icons are databases (as is the Windows Registry).

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Understanding
essential database
terminology

Comparing paper
databases and
computer databases

Looking at the
differences between
flat-file and relational
databases

Understanding
important FileMaker
Pro concepts and
terms

Discovering uses for
FileMaker Pro

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