Database Applications

This is a very broad category that generally refers to desktop or web-based applications whose sole function is accessing, editing and managing a database.  Strictly speaking, any program that interacts with data is a database application.  When you get your bank statement online, for example, you are using a database application.  In effect, almost every website on the Internet is in fact a database application.

However, more often the term applies to tools that interact with large, centralized data stores.  For example, a database can be located at a centralized location on the Internet or corporate intranet.  It almost doesn't matter where the actual machine that hosts the data lives.  Different types of client applications may then access the data from anywhere in the world. 

One commonly used client application is Microsoft Access.  Access can serve as a front-end to a centralized data store, running on a variety of different data-server appliations, such as SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL and many others.  With the data-viewer and the actual data separated into a client-server configuration, the file size of the client application becomes extremely small.  Assuming the client application is designed well, access to the centralized data can be very fast and very effecient.  Literally thousands of client applications can be running concurrently, at locations all around the world.  Microsoft Access has the added benefits of providing a very managable user experience.  Forms and reports can be highly customized, and automation through VB coding can take virtually all the guesswork out of the novice's interaction with the database. 

More and more commonly, however, database applications are being developed that utilize a web browser-based front end.  These days there are