Databases are not "one size fits all." Different data requirements demand different database structures.
You interact with databases almost every minute of your digital life:
These are databases that run on a cloud computing platform (like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud). They offer scalability and remote access without the need for on-premise hardware.
This was the revolution. Edgar F. Codd of IBM proposed the relational model. Data is stored in tables (spreadsheet-like structures) with rows (records) and columns (attributes).
The first databases used tree-like structures (hierarchical) or web-like structures (network). While innovative, they were rigid. If you wanted to query the data in a way the original structure didn't anticipate, you were out of luck.
SQL Injection is still the OWASP Top 10 vulnerability. Never trust user input. Modern DBs offer: