Access Tutorial 1 Introduction to Microsoft Access

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Access Tutorial 1: Introduction to Microsoft Access. The purpose of these tutorials is not to teach you. Microsoft Access, but rather to teach you some …

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. Michael Brydon (brydon@unixg.ubc.ca)
Last update: 24-Aug-1997 Home Previous 1 o f 17 Next
Access Tutorial 1: Introduction to Microsoft Access
The purpose of these tutorials is not to teach you
Microsoft Access, but rather to teach you some
generic information systems concepts and skills
using Access. Of course, as a side effect, you will
learn a great deal about the software-enough to
write your own useful applications. However, keep in
mind that Access is an enormously complex, nearlyindustrial-
strength software development environment.
The material here only scrapes the surface of
Access development and database programming.
1.1 Introduction: What is Access?
Microsoft Access is a relational database management
system (DBMS). At the most basic level, a
DBMS is a program that facilitates the storage and
retrieval of structured information on a computer’s
hard drive. Examples of well-know industrial-strength
relational DBMSes include
?Oracle
?Microsoft SQL Server
?IBM DB2
?Informix
Well-know PC-based (”desktop”) relational DBMSes
include
?Microsoft Access
?Microsoft FoxPro
?Borland dBase
1.1.1 The many faces of Access
Microsoft generally likes to incorporate as many features
as possible into its products. For…