Table (Database)
A table in the context of databases refers to a structured collection of data organized in rows and columns. Each row in a table represents a record, while each column represents an attribute or field within that record. For example, a users table might have columns for user_id, username, email, and date_of_birth, where each row contains specific information about individual users. The table structure makes it easy to store and query data, enabling efficient retrieval and management of large datasets. In relational databases, tables are interconnected through relationships like foreign keys, which link data across multiple tables.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Table_(database)
In relational databases, tables are fundamental building blocks used to represent entities and their relationships. Each table is typically defined by a schema, which specifies the data types and constraints on the columns. For example, a customer table might contain columns such as customer_id, first_name, and last_name, where the data type for customer_id could be an integer, and first_name could be a string of text. The ability to define a table's schema helps ensure data integrity, consistency, and proper data types across different records. Tables in relational databases are often queried using SQL (Structured Query Language) to retrieve, insert, update, or delete data.
https://www.sqlshack.com/sql-server-tables/
Tables in databases also enable advanced data operations like joining and filtering. In complex data analysis tasks, multiple tables can be linked through foreign keys and primary keys to create powerful queries that extract meaningful insights from interconnected data. For example, a sales table might be joined with a products table to calculate the total sales for each product, providing useful business intelligence. In addition, tables allow for normalization, a process that reduces redundancy by dividing large tables into smaller, related tables. This approach improves the efficiency of database operations and ensures that data remains consistent across multiple records.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database
- Snippet from Wikipedia: Table (database)
In a database, a table is a collection of related data organized in table format; consisting of columns and rows.
In relational databases, and flat file databases, a table is a set of data elements (values) using a model of vertical columns (identifiable by name) and horizontal rows, the cell being the unit where a row and column intersect. A table has a specified number of columns, but can have any number of rows. Each row is identified by one or more values appearing in a particular column subset. A specific choice of columns which uniquely identify rows is called the primary key.
"Table" is another term for "relation"; although there is the difference in that a table is usually a multiset (bag) of rows where a relation is a set and does not allow duplicates. Besides the actual data rows, tables generally have associated with them some metadata, such as constraints on the table or on the values within particular columns.
The data in a table does not have to be physically stored in the database. Views also function as relational tables, but their data are calculated at query time. External tables (in Informix or Oracle, for example) can also be thought of as views.
In many systems for computational statistics, such as R and Python's pandas, a data frame or data table is a data type supporting the table abstraction. Conceptually, it is a list of records or observations all containing the same fields or columns. The implementation consists of a list of arrays or vectors, each with a name.