资料来源 : WordNet®

relational database
     n : a database in which relations between information items are
         explicitly specified as accessible attributes; "in a
         relational database the data are organized as a number of
         differently sized tables"

资料来源 : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

relational database
     
         (RDBMS - relational database management system) A
        {database} based on the {relational model} developed by
        {E.F. Codd}.  A relational database allows the definition of
        data structures, storage and retrieval operations and
        {integrity constraints}.  In such a database the data and
        relations between them are organised in {tables}.  A table is
        a collection of rows or {records} and each row in a table
        contains the same {fields}.  Certain fields may be designated
        as {keys}, which means that searches for specific values of
        that field will use indexing to speed them up.
     
        Where fields in two different tables take values from the same
        set, a {join} operation can be performed to select related
        records in the two tables by matching values in those fields.
        Often, but not always, the fields will have the same name in
        both tables.  For example, an "orders" table might contain
        (customer_id, product_code) pairs and a "products" table might
        contain (product_code, price) pairs so to calculate a given
        customer's bill you would sum the prices of all products
        ordered by that customer by joining on the product-code fields
        of the two tables.  This can be extended to joining multiple
        tables on multiple fields.  Because these relationships are
        only specified at retreival time, relational databases are
        classed as {dynamic database management system}.
     
        The first commercial RDBMS was the {Multics Relational Data
        Store}, first sold in 1978.
     
        {INGRES}, {Oracle}, {Sybase, Inc.}, {Microsoft Access}, and
        {Microsoft SQL Server} are well-known database products and
        companies.  Others include {PostgreSQL}, {SQL/DS}, and {RDB}.
     
        ["Managing Data Bases, Four Critical Factors" Michael
        M. Gorman, QED Information Sciences, Inc.].
     
        ["An Introduction To Database Systems" (6th ed) C. J. Date,
        Addison Wesley (an excellent source of detailed info)].
     
        ["An End-User's Guide to Data Base" James Martin, Prentice
        Hall (excellent place to begin learning about DBMS)].
     
        (2002-06-10)