Requires Free Membership to View
A data directory just points you to the locations of the data. Think of a Web search engine as a data directory. You type in the data you are looking for, and it tells you where it is at.
A data dictionary is information about the data, but not just limited to the location of the data. For instance, the data dictionary in an Oracle database can tell you what columns are in a table, what datatypes those columns are, who has permissions to view that data, and how that data in that table is related to data in other tables.
For More Information
- Dozens more answers to tough Oracle questions from Brian Peasland are available.
- The Best Oracle Web Links: tips, tutorials, scripts, and more.
- Have an Oracle or SQL tip to offer your fellow DBAs and developers? The best tips submitted will receive a cool prize. Submit your tip today!
- Ask your technical Oracle and SQL questions -- or help out your peers by answering them -- in our live discussion forums.
- Ask the Experts yourself: Our SQL, database design, Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, metadata, object-oriented and data warehousing gurus are waiting to answer your toughest questions.
This was first published in April 2003
Join the conversationComment
Share
Comments
Results
Contribute to the conversation