Data Types

Boolean
Data stored in Boolean form can only be one of two available values. For
example: yes or no, true or false. Or a light switch: its either on or off.
Alphanumeric
Data in Alphanumeric form is a string/combination of numbers, letters and
symbols. For example: a registration plate on a car e.g. DU07 A1F
Alphanumeric is used to hold telephone numbers. Telephone numbers, in
computers, are stored as text. This is because the telephone number contains a
leading zero and spaces.
Real
A real number has decimal places e.g. 3.14159
Integer
Integer numbers are whole numbers with no decimal places e.g. 5, -19, 65712
Date
Dates can be stored in many different forms. In the UK we write the date in the
form DD/MM/YYYY e.g. 31/12/2014. In the US, they use the form MM/DD/YYYY e.g.
12/31/2014.
Other Data Types
Currency Software will automatically add or $ to data and include decimal
places. E.g. 22.99.
Images/Sound Bites/Video Clips Some databases will allow an images, sound
and video clips to be stored; for example a photo of a criminal and their
fingerprints on a crime database.
Database key words
Field
One piece of information relating to one attribute e.g. house number
Record
A row on a database table. It contains all the information on one thing/person.
File
A file is a database table but it can be referred to as a file for the exam.

A customer ID would be unique and could never be reused/reassigned. It is the

primary key field. Even if it has been deleted, it can never be reused.
Cust. ID
A1245
B1562
F1555

Surname
Jones
Smith
Jones

Forename
Dave
Bob
Dave

D.O.B
19/04/62
12/01/83
01/01/99

House No.
5
124
8

Postcode

Primary/key fields
They are needed so people can be identified. Even people with the same
information but have different ids will be treated as different people. The rules of
primary key fields are as follows:

Cannot be null
(Never use text fields)
If it is deleted then it can never be used again
It is unique; there are no two the same